Because You Are Here
by Xinyii xo
Summary: AU Hope transferred into the Imperial Academy of Eden for his childhood friend he lost contact with seven years ago. There, he slowly uncovers the many secrets and mysteries that is Lightning Farron, all while trying to reunite with his long lost friend.
1. Lightning Farron

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_

Yay, my first HopeRai fanfic! I love these two to death. Lightning is just so awesome and badass... and Hope is just so cute, I love him. I could care less if he was weak in the beginning. His character growth was probably the biggest in the game though (yay Hope) 8DD and it was allll because of dear Lightning XDD

This story is AU and the ages are different from the game: Hope is 16 while Lightning remains 21, I did this because I wanted a more mature Hope, but at the same time, have him mantain his childish charm. And I needed a way for the two to interact with each other XD which is why Lightning is still 21 and not 23. I also kept the town names such as Bodhum and Palumpolum because I'm uncreative like that.

I waited forever to get started on this because wanted the game so badly but I didn't even have a PS3, so I earned money and brought it (which took FOREVER.) Then I had to play the game in order to really understand how the characters are. I AM SO HAPPY I GOT THE GAME. I really hope the characters are IC and not OOC (and if they are, I'm so sorry D8)

**Warning: slight spoilers, such as Lightning's real name, **but that's pretty much it.

_**Disclaimer: I don't think my mind is creative enough to come up with a story like Final Fantasy XIII…**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_When you're not here, I forget how to love._

_-xxx-_

"_C-Claire, I don't want to go," the little boy cried into her stomach, his shaking hands gripping on her uniform tightly. She bit her lip, feeling her own tears forming._

Hope…

_She couldn't stand looking at him so upset, _so broken_, like he was now. He was usually a cheerful kid, all smiles. _

_But how could one smile at the death of their own mother?_

_She quickly wiped away her tears with her fingers. Maybe if she was strong, he would be too…_

"_I don't want to be leave you," With that said, she could feel more of her tears threatening to spill, a feeling in her chest tightening. _

_Had she really made such an impression on him? She had tried so hard to push him away in the beginning._

"_Silly…" she whispered, her own voice slightly shaking. She lightly patted his silver head like she always would. And every time she did, he would always give her his trademark toothy smile. He looked up at her, eyes all swollen and red. "I'll always be with you." She tried to smile, she really did, but it was hard. _

_But she did it for him._

_He had said that he liked it when she smiled._

_She pulled him off her for a second, firm hands on both his shoulders, and lowered herself down to his level. "Here, close your eyes for a second." She had to be strong, she reminded herself, not for her— _but for him_._

_Hope did as he was told and waited, suddenly feeling her arms loosely around him for a split second. He then felt something cool fall against his skin._

"_Okay, you can open them now."_

_He looked at her and wondered what she had done that made her want him to close his eyes. He then noticed the necklace she always wore was gone. Looking down, he saw it hanging from his neck. _

"_Claire… w-why?"_

_Though it was a little long for him, she thought it looked nice. She leaned forward and brushed his bangs out of the way, lightly pressing a kiss to his forehead. He could feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. She always tended to baby him, not that he really minded._

"_So that I'll always be with you even when we're apart."_

_**+Chapter one: Lightning Farron+**_

Hope looked into the mirror, fixing his green tie one last time. He then attempted to smooth out his hair which was still rather messy, anxious for the day awaiting him. He soon gave up on his hair, knowing that no matter what he did, it would always somehow revert back to its messy self.

After seven long years, Hope had finally transferred into the famous Imperial Academy of Eden, or Eden for short. He had heard of the school numerous times since it was famous for being one of the best schools in the area and probably the country. Even so, he had never really gave it much thought.

That changed when he realized that he had a chance of seeing Claire again.

He still had some faint memories left of her even though he was only nine at the time and she was fourteen, but he still remembered the light green tie with the school's extravagant emblem branded on which she wore loosely around her neck, the matching green skirt, the signature uniform only worn by students of Eden.

It took him at least a year or two to bring up his straight 'B' average to a magnificent straight 'A' average, one of the many requirements to be accepted into the school, that and passing their extremely difficult entrance exam. But with perseverance, hard work and a lot of coffee and restless nights, he had received an acceptance letter from them and he nearly hugged his father to death.

He smiled into the mirror and looked at the necklace hanging around his neck, mostly hidden by the collar of his white button-down shirt. Hope hadn't really grown much after leaving Bodhum, maybe an inch or two every year or so. But once he hit the age of fifteen, that was when he really starting growing and was now a proud five foot five.

Hope grabbed his backpack and walked out of his new apartment room.

_-xxx-_

_Shit._

Hope looked around, panicking.

He had heard that the academy's campus was rather large and that there were many different buildings for different subjects and grades.

He knew that, he just didn't expect for all the buildings to look the same. _I mean, did the people who built the school feel the need to make every building look the same? _ He had spent at least twenty minutes walking around trying to find his class but that was kind of hard when it felt like you were just walking in circles in a freaking maze.

Groaning in defeat, Hope glanced at his watch and his eyes widened. _Crap…_ Only five minutes left until his first class started and he had no freaking idea where he was!

Hope started looking for someone to ask directions, screw his pride, he was going to be late and he did not want to start out his year like this. And plus, the school had strict rules about being late to a certain amount of classes. He wasn't about to let himself get kicked out after all he'd done to get in!

Luckily, he found someone. Her back was turned and she had soft, light pink hair that seemed to be parted to the side. He smiled with joy and quickly ran over to her.

Once he caught up to her he lightly tapped her shoulder. "Um… excuse me, could you tell me where I'm supposed to find room one-ten A?"

She slowly turned around and Hope suddenly felt ten times smaller even though they were practically the same height. She wore a plain dark orange sweater that hung loosely over her figure along with tan jean shorts that hugged her hips. For shoes, she wore knee-high brown boots. She had a deep frown plastered onto her pale beautiful face, almost as pale as he. She had a few freckles here and there but it looked kind of cute—_cute?_— on her. She had fierce, piercing icy blue eyes that made her look intimating, yet attractive. Hope couldn't stop staring into them for some reason. Her soft pink hair was curled at the ends mixed in with some straight strands of hair that lay lazily over her left shoulder.

He had never seen anyone as beautiful, and scary, as her.

Hope saw her eyes narrow dangerously at him and took a step back. _Maybe I shouldn't have asked her …_

She remained silent to his question. "Um… nevermind, I'll ask someone—" he was cut off when she suddenly raised her arm and pointed to his right.

"Room one-ten A is in that building." She replied coolly. She spoke so quietly that Hope almost missed her words. His eyes followed her finger he had never felt like such an idiot before.

"Um… thank you." He said with a laugh, his cheeks red with embarrassment, in an attempt to lighten the mood but all he got was an unamused scowl.

She frowned and with a low "hmph", she walked away. _Not even a 'you're welcome'? _He scratched his head, involuntarily glancing down at his watch and nearly jumped. Three minutes wasted.

"Crap!" he shouted running towards the building.

_-xxx-_

Hope bolted into his classroom and flung the door open, gasping for air.

"I'msosorryi'mlateitwon'thappenagainipromise," he let out in one breath. His teacher along with the rest of the class stared at him in amusement.

"Hey, it's okay," he laughed, Hope stared shocked, expecting to get at least a lecture or something for being late on the first day. "You're the new transfer student, right?" Hope simply nodded. "I'm your homeroom teacher Mr. Katzroy. You can just take a seat right there." Mr. Katzroy pointed to the only empty desk near the window on the far right side. Hope nodded and walked to his new seat and took out his notebook ready to take notes. Even though it was only the first day, there was nothing wrong with being prepared.

"Psst." Hope heard soft jiggling and turned to his left and saw a foreign girl with bright red curly hair in tied in pigtails pulling on his sleeve, both her wrists filled with many colorful silver bracelets, her vivid green eyes shining brightly. "Can I borrow a pencil? Forgot mine." She giggled with an accent he had never heard before. She wore her uniform like everyone else only she had a cream-colored sweater tied at her waist. Her bright cheerfulness took Hope aback mostly because he was still recovering from his earlier encounter with that cold pink-haired girl, who truthfully, scared the crap out of him. But then when someone stared at you like she did, who _wouldn't _be?

Hope then remembered the girl had asked for a pencil. Her cheerful smile was contagious and he soon found himself smiling back at her involuntarily.

"Uh… yeah," he reached into his bag and pulled out a simple black mechanical pencil and handed it to her. "Here."

She took the pencil with a smile. "Thanks!" Her kindness made him feel all warm inside, it was nice.

A few minutes later into the class Hope quickly learned that the class was already fairly familiar with Mr. Katzroy, hearing the name "Sazh" every now and then, which Hope would assume was his first name. Sazh had basically explained the basic rules of his class and the supplies they would need since he was also their history teacher.

He found a note on his desk and he quickly went to open it. '_My name's Vanille, what's yours?'_ Hope read, the letters written in smooth bubbly letters much like her personality.

Hope quickly composed a simply reply. _'Name's Hope Estheim'_ and quietly returned the note to her.

_-xxx-_

The bell rung, signaling the end of homeroom and history. Since they both took place in the same classroom there was no need to move to a different classroom, thank god since Hope was positive that he would just end up getting lost again and show up late to the next class.

Hope quickly threw his notebook and pencil into his bag without a thought and got up, ready to leave.

"Hey! Wait up!" Hope could hear the familiar accent through her words and immediately knew who it was. Turning to her, she held up his pencil he had lent to her. "Can't leave without this, right?"

She reached for his hand and placed the pencil in his hands. "What's your next class?"

"Um…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out his schedule, quickly scanning the paper. "… Study Hall."

"Yay!" she cheered. "Me too, let's go!" Vanille took hold of his hand and skipped out of the classroom with Hope trailing awkwardly behind.

_-xxx-_

"We don't really have to be anywhere really for study hall, so we can just walk around on campus."

Hope turned to her. Vanille had finally released her iron grip on his wrist so he could walk freely. "Really?"

"Yep. But if you want, you could always go to the library." She chirped, her slim arms swinging back and forth besides her. Hope had never seen or met anyone with as much energy as her. He had only been with her for at least five minutes now and he was already feeling tired.

Vanille spun around and faced him, her finger tapping her chin in a playful manner. "Say, how 'bout I give you a quick tour?" She offered. "So you won't get lost next time."

"That would be great." He beamed. Then there would be no need to ask anymore scary people for directions, Hope thought with a smile.

"Let me explain the school system to you first." Hope nodded, blindly following her since he had no idea where he was going. "There are four sections in this school; the elementary which are grades one to five, grades six to eight is the junior section, we are in the varsity section consisting of grades nine to twelfth, then last but not least," she giggled. "The university section with is basically like any regular old university."

"Do we have to go there after we graduate?"

"Nope, you don't have to, but most people do."

"Did you start from the elementary section?" Hope asked, feeling the need to get to know the girl better.

"Yep, most people here started out in the elementary section since the entrance exams for '_outsiders_' are much harder than the ones we take so most people who try to transfer into this school don't make it and fail."

Now that Hope thought about it, the entrance exams really were the hardest ones he had to take so far. He was almost positive that he didn't make it.

"Ha… no wonder." He sighed.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen a transfer student since most of the people who do pass the exams get kicked out because it was too difficult to keep up since the expectations were too great compared to their old school and they couldn't get used to it in time, resulting in failing grades."

Hope felt his heart drop. He felt that his grades were average and decent but he felt that he had barely passed the exams. What if he got kicked out because he was failing a class or something? Then all his efforts to find Claire would have been wasted and for nothing.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't see someone in front of him and walked right into her, causing him to fall in an embarrassing manner.

Hope placed a hand on his head for a moment before looking up at the person he just walked into. Once he saw her pink curls, he felt his heart drop.

"Hope! Are you alright?" Vanille called over, helping him off the ground while the older girl just stared, no traces of concern found on her flawless face. Only for a split second, Hope saw some foreign emotion flash across her face but was soon replaced by her regular stoic expression.

"Sorry…" he mumbled.

She looked at him coldly, colder than before, her delicate eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't waste your breath, kid." She said flatly and walked away. He started at her walking away, eyes wide. _Kid?_

Hope let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. For some reason, she seemed a lot more colder and harsher than before— _since she didn't really say anything last time_.

"Wow, that was terrifying," Hope looked over and saw Vanille twirling her bright curls, sighing in relief. "I thought she was going to beat you up or something with that nasty look she was giving you."

Hope stared at her, eyes wide. "Y-you know her?" Why would someone as cheerful as Vanille know someone as scary as her, Hope wondered.

Vanille firmly nodded. "I don't think there's anyone at this school who hasn't at least heard her name before."

"What's her name?"

"She goes by the name 'Lightning' and is probably the most feared person on the entire campus." _No shit_. With a name like that and a glare like hers, who wouldn't be scared of her? "There are a lot of bad rumors going around about her that make her even more intimating."

Hope didn't know why, but he was really curious in this Lightning girl. Even though she nearly chewed him out, she gave off an aura of mystery and he wanted to know more about her.

"Such as…?"

"Well, just to name a few, some say she's been arrested at least twice, suspended once, and tried to kill a person." Hope's face turned pale as he felt his fear for Lightning double in size. Maybe triple.

"W-what? Y-you can't be serious, can you?" he questioned. "How did she not get kicked out because of that?"

"Because her grades are good, one of the best in this school despite her cold personality." Vanille explained. "And plus, most of those rumors are probably fake anyway but with her personality like that, it's not hard to believe."

Even with the possibly of the rumors being fake, that didn't change the feeling of fear he felt for her. "Lightning… it can't be her real name, can it?"

"I'm not even sure myself. Some people say it is, some say it's not." Vanille placed her hand on her chin. "But it's not like those people even have the guts to reveal it."

"No kidding."

_-xxx-_

Lightning sat in her seat quickly in the library, staring blankly at her summer homework and filling in the last couple answers without a second thought.

"Hey sis! How's it goin'? I knew I'll find you here." Lightning's scowl deepened, she clutched her pen tightly as she glared at the bulky man grinning like an idiot at her.

"I'm _not_ your sister." She growled. Her cold words didn't seem to bother the man all that much let alone affect him at all. He probably didn't even realize that she was not happy with his presence.

"Aww, c'mon, you will be one day." He laughed. With that said, Lightning quickly elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. The man winced in pain.

"Hey, now, it was a joke," he said. With one last stare, she turned her attention back on her homework.

"It better be."

Snow just laughed and took a seat beside her, grinning at her. She looked over and frowned.

"Wipe that idiotic grin off your face, it's disgusting." She said darkly.

Snow didn't listen to her which only fueled her anger. As if she wasn't angry enough.

"So I heard you spared the life of some kid today. Quite surprised you didn't break any of his teeth."

Lightning sighed angrily. "What the hell are you getting at? You're well aware that those rumors aren't even _close_ to the truth."

Snow laughed at her comment and leaned back in his chair, placing his arms behind his head in a relaxed fashion, invading more of Lightning's much wanted personal space. "Yeah, but it's still funny hearing the things being said about you. Oh! There was this one time someone told me you—" Snow's sentence was cut short when Lightning landed a punch square in his face and Snow fell onto the floor with a loud _thud_.

"Jeez, I don't get how you too lovebirds have this much energy in the morning." A woman around the same age as Snow and Lightning appeared, her dark wavy hair messed in a wild fashion, her thin dark eyebrows arched in amusement. She wore a black and blue tank top and a pair of shorts with a brown belt around them along with a pair of open-toed boots covering her feet. She had black disconnected sleeves covering her arm from her elbows down to her wrist with numerous bracelets hanging off them. On her upper left arm was a large tattoo along with a couple of scars decorating both her upper arms and shoulders.

Lightning threw a dark glare at her way while Snow already having recovered from Lightning's punch (he was getting used to them), made a disgusted face.

The woman simply smirked in response to Lightning's unamused glare. "Ha, you can glare all you like but they won't work on me anymore."

"What the hell, Fang?" Snow shouted earning him an angry look from one of the librarians across the room. "You're well-aware that Serah is the only one for me!"

Lightning quickly gathered up her stuff and got ready to leave, but not before kicking Snow hard on the shin.

"Stay away from Serah." She threatened.

Snow recovered from Lightning's attack too quick for her liking and swiftly placed a large arm around her shoulders. "Aww, sis, don't be upset, you're still loved. I'll give you a hug if that'll make you feel any better." He mocked with a grin, he was clearly enjoyed this way too much. Lightning immediately took advance of his close proximity and threw another flawless punch to his face, hopefully to keep him on the floor long enough for her to leave.

Fang laughed at Snow's fallen and bruised figure, her smirk never leaving her face. "You never learn, do you?"

_-xxx-_

Hope jammed the keys into the door and quickly walked in, falling limply on the couch nearby. He didn't even bother taking off his shoes yet. A lot of things had happened, enough to make him utterly exhausted. That, and all the walking and running he had to do to get around campus and to his classes. Luckily, he had Vanille in most of his classes with the exception of gym, and three other ones the next day.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and swiftly took it out and studied the number that came up.

_Dad._

He flipped the phone open and spoke clearly to the other end. "Hey, Dad."

"_How was the first day?"_

Hope switched the phone to his other hand and placed it between his cheek and shoulder, busy removing his shoes. "It was good, got a little lost, but it was good."

"_That's good to hear. How's the apartment room?"_

Hope had managed to stay in an apartment close to Eden instead of staying on campus because one, he figured it would be much quieter and he wouldn't have to deal with random parties at inconvenient times. He didn't like imagining himself wide awake at three in the morning having to hear the noise next door because of a wild party. Two, because it was convenient since his dad usually stayed in the same room incase he had a meeting in town and needed a place to stay. And plus, it would be easier for his dad if he wanted to visit some time which he promised to do in the future.

Ever since they moved back to Palumpolum seven years ago after the death of his mother, their relationship had been a bit rocky and extremely awkward. They were never really close from the beginning since his dad was always out of town for a meeting or a business trip of some sort on the other side of the world and he was home with his mom. So when he was suddenly the only family Hope had left, he had no choice but to turn to him for comfort and develop a better relationship. It was challenging and took many years for them to finally have a conversation without any awkwardness but it was nice finally having someone to other than his friends to talk to.

There were still some awkward moments between the father and son but Hope was hopeful that they'll go away over time.

And it was all because of Claire's encouragement all those years ago for Hope to build a stronger bond with his father.

"Yeah, the apartment room is nice."

"_Okay, I would talk longer with you but I have to go, there's a meeting I have to be at early in the morning so I have to go to bed now. I'll call you tomorrow and you can tell me more about your day then. Good night."_

Hope smiled into the phone. "Good night, dad"

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter one [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_My failed attempt at humor.

Ehehehe... so what do you think? Good? No good? Terrible? Please tell me 8D constructive critizism would be nice but if so, please explain yourselfs by taking some examples from the story so that it'll help me understand what you are trying to point out to me C8

Just to clear things up: the emblem on the uniform is the Sanctum l'Cie brand (it's really pretty) in it's final form (you can always look it up C8)

_**Preview: **__"For all we know, she could be going through her—"_… 'You have got to be shitting me.'

_**Please Review~!**_

[Last edited: 1/29/11]_**  
**_


	2. Light

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n:**_ OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY. I had planned on uploading each chapter once a week so this was supposed to be up last week but when I went over to my cousin's house, the "Oh, we're staying here for 2 days" turned into "LOL. I'm leaving you here for a week. BAI." And because I get nothing done when I'm with my family cuz they're all crazy, I thought I'll save myself from the trouble of carrying my heavy laptop over with me thinking that I'm only staying overnight then coming back, but my cousins convinced me to stay... so I had no way of editing or uploading chapter two. BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. C8

So here's chapter two, hope it's not crappy. 8D (Next time, I'm bringing my laptop where ever I go.)

_**Disclaimer: Maybe if I started working at Square Enix, I could partially own Final Fantasy XIII XDD /shott**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_Even though we're apart, I can still feel your presence nearby._

_-xxx-_

_**+Chapter two: Light+**_

Hope exited the Mathematics Building, relieved that math class was finally over. He hated the idea of starting out his second day at Eden with math but couldn't really do anything about when he found out that that was his first class. It wasn't like Hope didn't do well in the subject, in fact, it was apparently one of his best subjects but he found it extremely boring. He couldn't think of when he'll need to use it for in the future.

Walking around the campus, Hope tried to remember where Vanille had pointed out the Art Building since his next class was art, but nothing came up. After spending a day there, he had realized that there were name plates on every building, stating which building was which, but because the plates were rather small along with the font, they couldn't really be read at a distance meaning Hope had to go up to every single building one by one just to figure out what building it was which could be very time consuming.

Hope groaned. "Why couldn't they mail me a map of the school along with my acceptance letter?" He felt like ripping his hair out. He really had no other method so he just walked around campus blindly, hoping that somewhere along his journey, he'll find the right building in time. He could ask someone for help but after his rather unpleasant counter with Lightning the other day he was afraid that everyone else in the school, with the exception of people like Vanille, was cold and scary like her.

Now that Hope really thought about it, Lightning wasn't really a cruel person. She didn't push him to the ground when he bumped into her or bully people in anyway; it was just the way she acted around others. She was unsociable, that didn't take a genius to figure out, and distanced herself from others which could translate into cruelty to some people making it hard for people to approach her because they feared her and was, in the end, avoided. That fact alone could cause other thoughts about her personality and such to surface. If only she communicated more to the people around her, maybe people wouldn't view her in such a cruel light. It didn't mean that Hope wasn't afraid of her, he was, she was as scary as hell turned over.

But it didn't stop him from pitying her.

Hope was so absorbed in his thoughts, completely forgetting he had to get to class, and accidently bumped his shoulders into someone else but not enough to make them fall on the ground, but just enough to cause her to drop books to the ground.

Shocked and embarrassed that he was so into his thoughts about Lightning. Once his cheeks regained their normal temperature, Hope looked over prepared to apologize and help her with her books, that is, until he saw her pink hair. He made a noise similar to a yelp and jumped away like she was a contagious disease. He stared at her back with fear while she continued to pick up her books. _Just when I thought I wouldn't see her again. _Once all her books where picked up she stood up straight and Hope realized that she was shorter than he remembered.

The girl turned around and Hope expected to see a set of cold, unforgiving blue eyes with pale eyebrows arched fiercely over them but instead was met with large sincere ones and a small smile. Her hair, unlike yesterday, was longer but still wavy pulled to a neat side ponytail with jewels hanging off the hair tie. Shorter strands of hair were left flowing freely behind.

"Li-lightning…?" he asked in shocked, his voice still not recovering from before. The girl heard the fear laced in his words and giggled.

"I think you're mistaking me for my sister," Hope loosened up. Now it made sense, with the pink hair and all.

Hope never expected Lightning to have a sister or a sibling at all. And if she did, he would expect that they were the same as her; cold and unsocial. "You sound like you're scared of her, why's that?"

Hope stared at her. "Are you serious? Don't you think that she's at least a bit intimating?"

"Hmm… I guess, but she's not that scary once you get the know her. She's actually pretty kind."

Hope was positive that this girl was crazy. She immediately noticed the look he was giving her.

"Well you know, once you're close to her and stuff." She added.

"Yeah, if she doesn't kill you first." He joked.

"Onee-chan isn't that kind of person. Sure she'll punch you around, but she has some control."

Hope laughed. "Yeah, _some_."

Serah laughed along with him. "Oh yeah, by the way, I'm Serah." she said extending out her slim hand.

Hope took her hand in his. "Hope."

Serah glanced at her books for a second before speaking again. "I'm sorry, but I should probably get to class." She turned to leave but was stopped when Hope grabbed her wrist.

"Wait," Hope knew she wasn't going to give him a cold stare if he asked, unlike another pink-haired girl. "Do you know where the art building is?"

"Yeah, it's not that far from here and I'm heading over there myself, I could walk you there, and who knows, maybe we're in the same class." Serah pointed straight to the building in the distance and started walking in that direction. Hope followed her.

_-xxx-_

Hope leaned back in his seat, stretching for a second but paused when he heard a rumble echo through his stomach. He heard Serah's soft giggle and blushed.

"Hungry?" she asked.

"Starving."

Serah threw the last of her notebooks in her bag and got up, extending her hand out to him. "Well then, let's go eat lunch."

"That would be nice."

Lunch time yesterday was quite lonely. After Vanille had briefly showed him around campus, she had told him that she promised to meet with someone and sincerely apologized for leaving him. Hope waved off her apology saying that it was okay and that he basically got an idea of how the school was, even if it was a total lie, he felt guilty for keeping her from her business and let her go. And besides, he had said, he still had some papers to hand in to the office and he knew where it was thanks to her.

After the papers were dropped off, Hope's stomach called out to him and he realized that after study hall, he had lunch and he had no idea where Vanille was. Because of that, he ended up sitting by himself on his first day which was quite embarrassing with all the on-lookers.

But now that he had just met Serah and lunch was coming up, he wouldn't have to eat his sandwich alone anymore!

They left the art building and headed straight towards the cafeteria. After coming here yesterday, Hope had to say, it was a nice place to have lunch, nicer than his past cafeterias. The cafeteria was rather large, but that was to be expected when there were at least over a thousand people attending this school since it was shared between all the grades and sections of the school. There were circle-shaped tables with benches underneath scattered all over with numerous booths along the walls of the place.

And if someone didn't feel like sitting inside, there was a large courtyard most people used for studying, hanging out, basically anything, and that included having lunch.

"You don't mind eating outside, do you?"

"N-no, I don't mind."

"This way." Serah pointed to a table with people Hope had never seen before already seated. When they got closer to the table, Hope had a better look at the people who were most likely friends of Serah.

The first person that stood out to Hope was a wild-looking woman with tan skin who had her wavy dark hair all over the place, really. He noticed that the ends of her strands of her hair were dyed red. She looked imitating with her dark fierce eyes, almost as imitating as Lightning, and the large tattoo on her upper left arm didn't make things better.

_The school allows things like tattoos?_

"Serah!" a large man with long blond hair, longer than Hope's, with a black bandana wrapped around his head approached Serah— _more like ran_— to her and engulfed her in his large arms and if Hope couldn't see the enjoyment on her face, he would have mistaken the sign of affection as him trying to crush the small girl in his strong arms.

"Snow!" She giggled while he spun her around in circles, which didn't seem to be a difficult task for the man.

Hope assumed that the man was Serah's boyfriend. Once they finished, Serah happily took the seat right next to him and Hope decided to sit in between Serah and the wild-looking woman.

"Sorry I'm late, guys!" a cheery voice cut in. "I was ju— Hope? Is that you?"

Hope looked up when he heard his name and once he saw the bright colored pigtails, he smiled.

"Hey, Vanille." Hope shyly waved.

"You know this boy?" the woman to Hope's left spoke, her accent mirroring Vanille's.

_Maybe they're related?_

Vanille nodded her head, "Yep," and took a seat next to the woman.

"So short stuff, your name's Hope, is it?" Hope slightly blushed and turned to the blond-hair man, his eyes daring him to call him that again.

"I'm not that short."

"Yeah Snow, it's just because you're a freaking gorilla compared to everyone else, and look, you're scaring the kid." The tan woman said, taking a sip of her soda.

Snow slightly pouted. "It's called having muscle. And I think the person he's scared of is you with that huge-ass tattoo on your arm."

"Whatever." She scoffed.

"That's Fang, by the way." Serah cut in. "And I guess you know Vanille, and got to know Snow."

"Hey, aren't you the kid who knocked into Light two times yesterday?"

Hope looked at Fang with questioning eyes. _Light? She couldn't possibly be referring to Lightning can she? I mean… the nickname doesn't really suit her. _If Lightning was anything, she was not a ray of light.

"How did you—?"

Snow placed an arm around Serah. "Ah, speaking of her, where's sis?"

The second the last word left his mouth, a pair of dark commando boots landed against the backside of his head with enough force causing the large older man to fly forward, his chest crashing against the edge of the table nearly winding him.

"Who are you calling _'sis'_?" a dark voice entered. By now, Hope had already known who that voice belonged to. He felt his face pale slightly.

"Never learn do 'ya?" Fang roared with laughter.

"Onee-chan!" Serah cried, she got up and hung herself around Lightning's neck. Hope sneaked a peek over to Lightning, afraid she might notice him staring at her. He watched silently as her expression soften up and her hand pat Serah's soft hair lovingly. Her once cold eyes suddenly turned kind, her lips slightly turned upright in a small smile. She looked even more beautiful. Once the thought entered his head, he blushed and quickly turned around, an action not missed by Fang.

"So nice you could join us, Light." Fang said, almost in a mocking fashion. "Have you met the new addition to the group?" Fang smacked Hope's back hard causing him to jump with an "ow" escaping his lips.

Great, now his efforts to try to hide from Lightning were over, thanks to Fang.

But maybe, she wouldn't recognize him and would mistaken him for another silver-haired, green-eyed teenage boy. _Like there's a chance of that happening_. He thought dryly.

He slowly looked up and saw that her kind expression from before disappeared and was replaced by a cold stare.

"Now that I think about it, I'm not that hungry." Lightning turned away from Hope. "I'm going back to the library to study."

"Wait, aren't you even going to hang out with us?" Serah asked with pleading eyes. Her time spent together with Lightning was already cut short because they were both busy with their lives and schoolwork. Because Serah was a senior in the varsity section, she had to prepare herself for the entrance exams for the university there. Even though Lightning was sure she worked her hardest since her grades showed that, you could never be too sure. Serah didn't want to disappoint her sister. And with Lightning, even though her grades were one of the best in her grade and probably the school, college was never easy and she had to keep her grades up. Lunch time was the only time the two could really be together and talk other than dinner at home and the occasional "hi" on campus during passing time.

"I already have a test coming up soon, I should really be going." She gave Hope one last stare, Fang having noticed this arched a thin brow in amusement, and walked away.

"Is it me, or does Light seem to be in a worse mood than usual?" Vanille asked once Lightning was out of sight, her fork stabbing a piece of lettuce in her small container of salad.

"When is she ever not in a grumpy mood?" an older, mature voice asked. Hope looked over and saw his history teacher walked towards them.

"Sazh!" Vanille cried, waving both her hands to him, her many bracelets jiggling. Everyone followed suit, greeting the man.

"Mr. Katzroy? Do you not have class or something?" Hope asked.

The older male took a seat besides Vanille. A small yellow chocobo popped out of the man's afro and landed in Vanille's palms and she proceeded in playing with it. "Yep, and you can just call me Sazh."

Hope nodded and he started eating his sandwich while the rest of the group chatted away about their day so far. Hope would've joined the conversation but something was bothering him. He barely knew Lightning, and he knew that she barely knew him, but why did he have a feeling that she hated his guts? Even though she didn't physically show it, he could see it in her eyes. It couldn't be because he knocked into her two times in a row. She may seem like a person with a small temper; ready to lash out her anger to anyone around her once she reached her limit, but was mature when it came to handling a situation and was sophisticated in a sense. There had to be something else more complex she was mad at him for, the only problem was, he didn't know her enough to understand her and what it was she was mad at him for.

"Hey," the rest of the table ceased their talking and turned to the silver-hair boy. "Do you think she left because of me?"

Maybe it was his fault that she left early because she was avoiding him and because of him, Serah lost her chance to be with her sister and Lightning lost her chance to relax from schoolwork and be with her friends.

"Hey, don't worry about it, kid" Snow said not in between bites of his sandwich. "Light's just like that. She rarely spends time with us. All she does is study and study."

Hope was reassured when the rest of the group nodded, agreeing with Snow.

"And for all we know," he continued with a grin, "she could just be going through her—"

Snow's thought was cut short when Serah smacked him across the head.

_-xxx-_

Lightning entered her apartment building trying her best not to show how exhausted she was. She didn't even know why, she just was. She got a good amount of sleep last night since she was usually in bed by ten and up by six. She ate breakfast but not lunch, maybe she was hungry?

She sighed and urgently pressed the 'up' elevator button feeling very impatient, but then again, Lightning Farron was never a very patient person.

Once the doors to the elevator opened, she growled a low "finally" even though it took only about ten seconds for the elevator to reach the lobby. Those ten seconds felt like ten whole minutes to her. She stepped inside and was ready to press the 'six' for her floor number when she saw someone's hand fly in to try to stop the elevator doors from closing. She stared in shock and wondered how stupid the person was for trying to stop the doors with their hands and pressed the button to open them.

When the doors fully opened, Lightning wished she just went ahead and ignored the hand flailing out in front of her.

_You have got to be shitting me_.

In front of her eyes was a boy with messy silver hair with heavy bangs nearly covering half his face and there was only one person Lightning knew that had that kind of hair color.

_Hope._

Hope looked up and met her dark gaze and nearly jumped.

"L-lightning?" He said loudly. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

She frowned. "I live here." She said flatly. "Hurry up unless you want the doors to close on you again."

Hope just nodded and walked in, his finger moving in to press his floor number. Lightning's frown ran deeper when she saw him press 'six'. Hope tried to relax but couldn't. The atmosphere in the elevator was tense and awkward, and Hope hated it.

Hope was the first to break the silence.

"Li-Lightning?" she glanced over, her arms crossed. Why was the ride up taking so long? She waited for him to continue and she was slowly loosing her patience. Hope struggled for the right words to say. He knew that Lightning was mad at him, but he had no idea what he did to make her angry. He also didn't know why the fact that she was mad at him bothered him so much. He barely even knew the woman. But it just felt wrong to leave the problem like this. Maybe after he apologized for whatever he did, he would find out how he had made her angry.

Hope looked at Lightning and saw she was loosing her patience, then back at the floor.

"I—um—I'm sorry."

_Pathetic_. Hope thought, feeling the blood rushing to his cheeks.

The doors opened. Before stepping out, Lightning turned to Hope and saw that he was sincerely sorry, he probably had no idea why he was apologizing in the first place, she could easily see that. But still…

She sighed and turned away and said, "Like I said before, don't waste your breath." Then walked out. Hope shot his head up and saw her leaving and quickly followed suit. Earlier before, before she spoke, he sneaked a glance towards her, curious on how she'll react to his apology and saw the same expression flash across her face after the second time he knocked into her, only this time he got a better look of her face. Her eyes had widened, only ever so slightly, her pink lips parted slightly. What that meant, Hope had no idea.

He watched her walk down to the end of the narrow hallway to her door while his room was four doors down, his thoughts still on her words a few seconds ago.

"_Like I said before, don't waste your breath."_

Hope turned to his own door once he saw her enter her apartment room.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter two [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Am I the only one who thinks Lightning is so freaking adorable? D8

_**Preview: **__"Well… I was wondering if— if you know someone called Claire here?"_

_**Please Review~ C8**_

[Last edited: 9/18/10]_**  
**_


	3. To Where You Are

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_This one is out a little early 8D (surprise!). The reason for that is because after almost finishing the entire plot of the story I realized that it's going to be about 30 chapters (ohmygod.) and if I post each chapter weekly like I said, it'll take about 6 months for me to finish and you guys to read and I didn't feel like putting you guys through 6 months of my headcannon (lol..) so I may update the story twice a week, maybe once a week, we'll see.

This chapter is a little shorter (which is way I got it done faster). I would make it longer but I wanted to go for a certain feel in this chapter that's different from the next (which explains why the plot is so freaking long D8) But I hope you guys will stay with me until the end C8

Disclaimer: The only Final Fantasy XIII I own is the game in my PS3 8D

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_Will you allow me to be by your side?_

_-xxx-_

_**+Chapter three: To Where You Are+**_

One whole day has passed since Hope's failed apology to Lightning in the elevator. He was still in shock that he lived so close to the person he feared the most, it almost seemed unreal. After he apologized, all he got from her was an empty reply that didn't help him at all. 'Don't waste your breath'? What was he supposed to make of that? He couldn't tell if she forgave him, was still angry at him, or was even angrier at him.

Sighing loudly, Hope let his head drop to his sketch pad, earning him a questioning stare from Serah who slightly jumped from the sudden outbreak of noise since it was only them at the table.

"Um… Hope?" Serah slightly shook Hope and he moved his head to its side, looking at her. "Is something wrong?"

Was something wrong? _Everything_ was wrong. Lightning hated him for no apparent reason, which bothered him. Now on why he was bothered by it was something he wanted to know. Not only was Lightning annoyed with him, he was also completely stumped on what to draw for class. And while he was busy trying to come up with someone to draw, everyone else already finished their sketch and started coloring in their creation, and Claire was no where to be found.

After returning to his apartment room the other day, he had completely forgotten the reason he had worked so hard to get into Eden, the feeling of guilt washing over him.

He had forgotten about her, like she didn't exist anymore, and it frightened him. Some friend he was. The next day, between classes, he had asked around wondering if anyone knew or once knew Claire but no one did. It was horrible. He was just as helpless. He couldn't even describe her to them when they asked, all he could tell them was her name and that wasn't much help. Hell, he didn't even know her last name. He never asked her for it and she never told him. He even questioned Vanille, Fang, and Snow about her. They weren't much help either. They never even heard of the name 'Claire' before.

Hope brought his head up and stared at the paper in his notebook still blank and untouched, almost as if it was mocking him.

"Hey, Serah?" she looked up from her work and turned to him, giving him her full attention.

Maybe there was still a chance.

There was still hope.

"_There's always hope."_

Hope twirled his pencil with his fingers.

"I was wondering if you knew someone who attends this school. Her name is Claire."

Serah's eyes widened as she stared at Hope whose eyes were still focused on the sketch pad in front of him. He turned to her with a determined look in his eyes, his heart racing, anxious for Serah's answer, hoping she knew something, anything, about Claire.

Even if it was just her last name, it was better than nothing.

Her eyes trailed down to his neck and saw a bit of a silver necklace hanging around his neck that was partially hidden by his white collar.

The way the chain was made, the color of it, the material, how it was a one-of-a-kind, there was no mistaking it…

She closed her eyes and brought her head back down. She clutched her pencil tighter.

"Serah—?"

"No, I don't." she said. Hope lowered his eyelids and turned back to his notebook, his hands controlling the pencil, sketching light lines onto the thick paper. Serah glanced over to Hope, seeing the hopelessness in his eyes, knowing it was partially her fault. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." He mumbled. Once the chin was drawn in, he carefully drew in a kind smile. With the way it was drawn, he had purposely cut off the top half of the face and only left the nose and mouth. He added the hair in with the fluent motion of his pencil. His memory was fuzzy and it bothered him.

Why couldn't he remember? Wasn't she important to him?

He would try so hard to try to remember; her face, her eyes, her hair, her voice, to try to reach out to the memory. But the closer he got to it, the farther it went, and soon, out of his grasp.

Hope then drew in her necklace, identical to the one he was wearing, and finished up her uniform which was the easiest part since he saw it everyday. He couldn't remember how her hair was so just drew in random straight hair hoping the drawing will stir something in him to remember.

Nothing.

The more he looked at the drawing, the more it bothered him. Something about the drawing was off, he could feel it nagging at him, he just didn't know what.

Serah glanced over to his drawing and softly gasped.

"It's beautiful, Hope." She got closer to have a better look. It was a simple and sketchy drawing, probably took him only less than two minutes, but the simplicity of it was what made it beautiful. _Almost like…_

Once she saw the necklace sketched in around her neck, her small smile dropped.

Serah reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder, gently adding pressure. "I'm sure you'll find her, Hope." He turned to her and gave her a small smile.

_-xxx-_

"Hope! Hope!"

The said boy kept walking even though his name was called out a few times. He stopped walking when he suddenly received a smack on his back, causing him to jump. He quickly turned around and saw her familiar orange curls.

"Vanille?" he cried, rubbing his now stinging back. Even with her petite size and thin arms, she still managed to whack him with such strength. "What was that for?"

She smiled. "Finally, I was calling your name over and over but you kept ignoring me."

"Oh, sorry, a lot's on my mind, I guess." Vanille tilted her head to the side, her curls brushing against her cheeks, immediately noticing how upset he was.

"Is it 'bout Claire?"

Hope scratched his head awkwardly and nodded. He had asked Vanille once if she knew but she knew nothing about Claire. She never even heard of her before. All she knew was that she was someone important to Hope who he lost contact with after he moved, but that was after he told her that.

She gave him another smack on the back, causing him to turn back around to face her. "Will you quit it?"

Vanille smiled and ran in front of him, her left hand out in a fist. "Don't give up!"

"Vanille, you don't understand… it's like— it's like she just _vanished_."

"Hey now, you never know, maybe she just isn't that well-known around campus." She reassured him, giving him one of her brightest smiles. "If she's that important to you like you say she is, then you definitely can't give up." Hope saw her smile, and just like before when they first met, Hope eventually found himself mirroring her smile.

"Maybe…"

"And I'll help you find her." she grinned while pointing to herself. "Cover more ground that way, right?"

Hope nodded. "Yeah."

"And who knows," she said with a reassuring smile. "Maybe she's looking for you too."

_-xxx-_

Before Hope knew it, the day had gone by quickly, quicker than usual, not that he didn't mind. Maybe when he was finally home, he could take a nap. As each day went by, Hope felt more exhausted than the last. And with the stress with trying to find Claire and keeping his grades up, he felt himself losing hours of sleep just by worrying about her.

Once the elevator reached his floor, Hope dragged himself to his apartment door, ready to lay on the nice, soft couch and fall asleep. Homework could wait.

While reaching in his pockets for the keys, in the corner of his eyes he saw a flash of pink and immediately knew it was Lightning. He suddenly felt nervous for some reason. She probably wouldn't be too happy to see him so he quickly tried to open the door once he got his keys but dropped them onto the floor. He reached down to try to pick them as quickly as possible.

Then an idea popped into his head.

Lightning has been attending Eden for a while now, and she was, no offence, a lot smarter than Snow and one could say she was more observant than Fang in some things.

Maybe, just maybe she knew something about Claire. She was so far the only person he has yet to ask.

Hope quickly debated the idea in his head.

He was still somewhat frightened by her. But after seeing her with Serah at lunch the other day, he had felt his fear for her tone down, realizing that there was a caring side to her, but after the elevator incident, it had nonetheless gone up again.

It wasn't that she was mean to him, it was just the way her eyes would narrow just about every time he talked to her made him feel uneasy.

People seemed to misunderstand her and stayed away from people, with the exception of Serah. Even with Fang, Vanille, Sazh and maybe Snow as her friends, she didn't really seem to enjoy mingling with them too much and often stayed by herself. And when he thought of that, he always had an urge to talk to her even though it made him nervous whenever he thought about talking to her or even approaching her.

Even now he felt nervous asking her. He probably would be bothering her if he asked and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

But… there was still a chance that she knew.

Hope then decided he would ask her. _For Claire…_

Gathered up all the courage he had, Hope walked up to her. Lightning quickly noticed him, her stoic expression unchanging, eyes slightly narrowing. Hope quickly picked up on that and gulped.

"Uh… Lightning?"

"What is it?" She placed a hand on her hip, waiting.

"Uh…" _Crap_. Hope froze again. Just like what happened the other day, he had kept her waiting. That was probably the reason why she got annoyed with him.

He couldn't back down this time. He had to know. This could be his only chance. He had to stop being nervous. It wasn't a big deal, it was just Lightning, right?

"Well… I was, um, wondering if— if you know— o-or knew— someone," he paused for a second. "Her name is Claire."

Once he finished his sentence, all his attention was directed to the ground. After at least of minute of silence, Hope had thought she had walked away and looked up, expecting her to be gone.

To his surprise, she was still there. Once he met her eyes, cold and unforgiving, he shivered slightly.

She turned away, ready to leave.

"No." was all she said and walked away.

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter three [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_OHMYGOD. For all the hardcore Final Fantasy 13 fans out there, I read somewhere that Square Enix may be thinking of making a sequel, depending on how well the game sells in the west (during an interview before the game was released here) and considering it sold like a million copies in its first week and the fact that the producers find it more exciting to do a sequel rather than coming up with a whole new battle system and characters for a new Final Fantasy. If they really are making a sequel, I. AM. SO. BUYING. IT._**  
**_

_**Preview: **__'She would surely end him without a second thought!_ … _He kept his arms over his head, prepared to have his ass handed to him by Lightning…'_

_**Please Review~ 8D  
**_


	4. Reaching To You

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: Here's a longer chapter (since the last chapter was a little short)**_

I really appreicate all the reviews I've been getting! You guys are amazing and I try my best to respond to every one of them (to the anonymous reviewers, I really appreicate your reviews too 8DD) They really help me a lot in regards in starting the new chapters and all! Keep 'em coming 8DD

On a sidenote: I kind of loosely based the school off of my school such as the classes which are 82 minutes long, 4 classes a day and 2 different days with different classes (A and B). Lunch is after the second class for 30 minutes and my school also has a courtyard where you can hang out and have lunch (which is what Snow and the other do C8) but my school isn't as nice as the one they go to XDD

For the college level, every one starts the day at different times, it depends on what classes they have.

Enjoy the chapter 8DD

_**Disclaimer: I do no own Final Fantasy XIII**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_Please don't push me away._

_-xxx-_

_**+Chapter four: Reaching to You+**_

Hope sat in his regular seat near the window bored, idly spinning his pencil in his hands wishing for the clock to speed up. It wasn't that he disliked Sazh's teaching, it was obvious that the older man tried his best to make his history class as interesting and entertaining as he could with his light humor and wits, it was just that Hope always found it hard to be fully interested in the subject.

"So the project is due next week," Sazh said while passing out the rubric. "Don't any of you forget now." He said with a smile. Once the last of the papers were handed out, the bell rang and Sazh waved to his departing students while Hope released a sigh of relief. He grabbed his things and threw the rubric in his bag and tossed it over his shoulder ready to leave when he felt someone tug on his sleeve. Hope turned around to see that it was Vanille.

"Leaving so fast? Avoiding me, are 'ya?" she joked with a smile. Hope laughed softly, shaking his head.

"What is it, Vanille?"

She held out the rubric they all just got. "Wanna be partners?"

Hope had almost forgotten that it was a group project since he was barely paying attention to Sazh when he was explaining it to the class and took the paper from her hands, quickly reading over the requirements. Luckily Vanille stopped him in time to remind him.

"Sure," he handed the paper back to Vanille. "Have anything in mind you want to research?"

The paper had stated they could write their report on basically anything they covered in the class so far in the year. It was fairly open-ended which was nice and made the entire project less stressful to worry about. All they had to do was write a decent three to four page essay, which was simple enough, and present a powerpoint, something Hope wasn't too comfortable with.

"I was kinda thinking of writing a paper about the history of Pulse, if that's okay with you."

Pulse, they had learned, was once a vast land neighboring Cocoon, the two lands almost similar at one point in regards to the architect. The people of the Cocoon and Pulse were free to travel back and forth between the two countries but later because of the sudden outbreak of monsters, the original inhabitants of Pulse, that lead to many deaths and homes destroyed, the Pulsian people were left with no choice but to leave their homeland and evacuate to Cocoon many years ago. After the matter had been settled, Pulse was then deemed dangerous by the government; the Sanctum. Now there was currently a tall barrier separating the fiends of Pulse from the citizens of Cocoon so that no monster or human can cross over at any time. And after many years, the barrier still stood strong with soldiers from Guardian Corps., the protectors and guardians of Cocoon, watching over the barrier making sure that no suspicious actions were to arise.

Hope let out a small laugh. "You're really interested in Pulse, aren't you?"

Sazh had only just recently gone over the topic on Pulse and he could tell how absorbed Vanille was in the topic, especially since she told him how she would go back to her dorm each day and research some more on the dangerous land and would happily share her findings with the boy and her friends. It was funny how into Pulse Vanille was since she would often complain how the topics usually discussed in a traditional history class were boring.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's so interesting!" she giggled. "And plus, my ancestors were from there."

Hope's eyes widened. "Really? No wonder why you don't sound like you're from here." Vanille nodded.

"They came here during the evacuation to Cocoon."

"Wait, so does that mean that Fang's ancestors were also from Pulse?"

The ginger head nodded once again. "Yep, so what's the plan?"

Hope thought for a bit. Since there wasn't much to be done, they could easily get the project done in no time. "We can each do half of the research by the next class and exchange the information found so that I can type the essay." He said.

"The entire essay? Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah, I should be able to get it done by next week."

"Okay, then I'll do the powerpoint." She beamed.

"Fair enough."

_-xxx-_

After study hall ended, Hope headed towards the courtyard to meet up with the rest of the gang for lunch and Light, as usual, had stayed behind. She rarely had lunch with them, only staying at least five times so far, the other times she would be off doing something else, _probably to avoid me_. Hope thought sadly.

Lunch was rather uneventful. Sazh had stopped by only for a second, saying he had a whole bunch of tests waiting to be graded. Snow and Fang bickered like usual about each other's stupidity and sexuality, nothing out of the blue, with Serah trying her best to calm the two down, worried that their little argument would evolve into a fist fight, while he and Vanille sat back and watched in amusement, enjoying their lunch.

When the two had finally calmed down, lunch was over and the five went on with their day. After an hour of basketball for gym, Hope headed towards the English Building only to see a sign in front of his classroom stating that class was canceled.

_Probably didn't get a sub in time_, Hope thought while heading back to the courtyard. On such a beautiful day like today, Hope didn't feel like staying inside the library for another hour of school.

Once he stepped into the courtyard, looking around for a free table and enjoying the bright warm sunlight on his face, his eyes froze on that familiar figure off on the side by herself, her pale strawberry locks shining nicely in the sun.

_Lightning._

Hope felt his heartbeat speed up for some reasons unknown, suddenly feeling all jittery, something that was starting to happen often whenever he got near her. It was a whole bunch of emotions mixed into one; nervousness, slight excitement, fear, and happiness.

It was unusual to see her since he hadn't seen her in a while, not after the time he had asked her about Claire which had been at least a week ago, something she didn't seem to be too happy about with the way her face was twisted with irritation when the word "No" left her pale lips.

She really was filled of mysteries, like a puzzle with a bunch of missing pieces.

Hope glanced over to her once again, hoping she wouldn't catch him doing so.

She already thought of him as a bother, he didn't need her thinking of him as a creeper too (which he wasn't).

_She looks so lonely_. Hope mused. She was off on her own, which wasn't surprising, and it probably didn't bother her as much as it bothered Hope.

He didn't know what possessed him to think that or to slowly walk over to her. But before he could reach her, she had already gathered her stuff together and gotten up, swinging her bag over her shoulder with flair and left the courtyard without even noticing his presence, which was probably for the best. Hope kept his eyes locked on her retreating figure. Once she was out of his sight he walked over to where she was just seated and spotted a red notebook abandoned on the table.

_Was that there before? _Hope reached over and picked up the notebook, his eager fingers ready to flip through its contents until a thought crossed his mind.

_Wait, what if this belongs to Lightning?_ He froze and stared at the hard cover of the notebook. It was so tempting to look through it, to learn more about her. What if she was the kind of person to not pay attention and doodle all over the margins? _Doubt it_. Or, maybe she was the one who wrote down every little detail the teacher said or wrote on the board. Did she write in messy chicken scratch or had neat handwriting?

Hope shook his head and quickly dismissed any thoughts about going through the notebook once he made note that since Lightning was Lightning, she would surely kill him for going through her stuff. He knew that Lightning already disliked him, why give her more of a reason to hate him?

But maybe if acted like the good person he was and returned the notebook to her, she would warm up to him and her hate for him would subside.

It was a stretch, but it was worth a try. No harm could come from it.

_Right?_

_-xxx-_

When school ended, Hope started his way home but was stopped by Snow who for some reason, wanted to go somewhere afterschool with him, saying all his other friends were busy with something else and that he hadn't really done anything exciting with the young boy. Hope immediately declined the offer, much to the blond's dismay, not interested in spending his afternoon with him.

Disappointed, Snow tried to convince Hope with no avail since Hope was barely listening to a word the older man was saying, his mind firmly set on returning home as quickly as possible before Lightning realized that she was missing her notebook.

After five minutes of listening to Snow go on and on, Hope finally found a chance to escape and headed home.

Once Hope was inside the apartment building, he ran to the elevators, pressing the button numerous times. The lady besides him raised a curious brow at him. Once the elevator got to the lobby, he raced inside, jabbing his finger on the button to bring him to the sixth floor while the other lady decided to take the next elevator, not wanting to be in the same elevator as the teen. The elevator soon reached the sixth floor and Hope hopped off, walking down the hallway and before he knew it, he was in front of Lightning's door, suddenly nervous, his heart racing.

He reached forward and rang the doorbell, Lightning's notebook in hand.

Then suddenly, a thought entered his head.

What if Lightning misunderstood his act of kindness? She probably would've noticed that her notebook was missing by now, being as sharp as she was. Since her trust in him didn't seem to be too high, what if she thought he stole it? She would surely end him without a second thought!

His heart was pounding by now. He was just surprised it didn't explode out of his chest. Yet.

The door opened and his heartbeat sped up which seemed impossible since it was already pounding so loud and fast.

Hope extended his arms in a rash manner, holding out the notebook to the figure in front of him, forcibly pushing it towards her, his head facing the ground, making sure to keep a safe distance away incase if she were to suddenly attack him and he would have enough time to make his getaway.

"Lightning y-you left your notebook outside so I thought I'll give it back to you." Hope suddenly brought his head back up to make sure she was angry at him. "I promise, I didn't look through it—!"

Hope nearly dropped the notebook when he realized the person he was talking to wasn't Lightning.

"Hope?" her hair was pulled to the usual side ponytail, long twisted pink hair spilling over her shoulders.

"S-serah?"

"How did you get here?" she asked with a smile, opening the door more so he could come in.

"I, um, live down the hall? Lightning didn't tell you?"

Serah gave Hope a look of confusion. "No… she didn't…"

"Serah, who's at the door?" Lightning came from the kitchen and walked towards Serah. When she got close enough, she saw a figure in front of Serah and turned to him.

"Hope? What are you doing here?" she asked with a straight face though she was just as shocked as Serah to see him at her door.

Hope held out the red notebook to Lightning. "You—uh— forgot this… at the courtyard." He said, she reached out and took it in her hands. Once it was out of his, she furrowed her brows which Hope mistook as a scowl. He quickly threw his arms over his head and shut his eyes tight. "I didn't look in it, I swear!"

He kept his arms locked over his head, prepared to have his ass handed to him by Lightning, as embarrassing as it sounded, if she had the strength to dominate someone as large as Snow in a fight singlehandedly, she could easily end him in less than five seconds without breaking out a sweat.

And she wouldn't even pity him.

When nothing happened, Hope cracked open an eye to look at Lightning. When he heard a muffled chuckle come out of her lips, he stared, eyes wide and confused, questioning what he had just heard.

"You didn't have to."

Hope slowly lowered his arms when he thought it was safe. "No, what if it got stolen?"

"No, what I mean is that this isn't even mine." She said while flipping through the pages.

Hope felt his jaw drop.

Hope grabbed the notebook from her hands and opened it up, the name 'Maqui' scribbled inside the cover. He had heard of a boy by that name, in fact, he was also in his history class, often getting scolded by Sazh for not paying attention in class. He flipped through more pages. Now he knew what he was doing every class. Each page was decorated with messy doodles, half of them Hope couldn't even make out, some of them resembling a device of some sort, almost like a blueprint. But with the quality of the pictures, he couldn't really tell. There were more doodles than notes written, his hand writing just as messy. How could someone study from this?

Hope felt his cheeks burn.

Great, she probably now thought of him as a freak _and_ an idiot.

Lightning stared at Hope while he was flipping through the pages of the messy notebook. How he ever thought that a notebook as corrupt as that could possibly belong to her was beyond her. But it was nice knowing after all these years, some things never changed. Only ever so slightly, Lightning softened her gaze towards the teen. Serah sneaked a glance towards her sister, her past assumptions proven correct.

"Lightning?" once her name was called, she quickly rid her eyes of the kindness, replaced by the usual stoic gaze. "I'm sorry. I always seem to bother you."

She sighed. There he went again, apologizing for the silliest things.

"Don't waste—," she paused and quickly rethought her words. "Don't worry about it."

Hope almost cringed he heard those hated four words coming on, but was caught off guard when she changed her words

Maybe, he wasn't hated by Lightning as much as he originally thought.

"Say, Hope," Serah jumped in. "Why don't you stay for dinner?"

_Dinner?_

Hope immediately jumped upon hearing the word dinner, startling Serah and earning him a questioning look from Lightning.

"I completely forgot, I was supposed to meet my dad today for dinner!" He was so caught up in returning the notebook back to Lightning that he completely forgot his dad had told him earlier that he had taken time off and was coming to visit. "I'm sorry, but I really have to go! I'll see you later!" and with that, Hope ran out of the place and out of the apartment, hoping that his dad's train was somehow delayed.

_-xxx-_

Hope pushed the large doors to the library open and quietly walked inside, not wanting to disturb the people around him studying.

It's been a while since he spent study hall by himself since he usually spent it with Vanille and sometimes Fang but Vanille had said that she had forgotten something back at her dorm and told him to go ahead. Hope thought about going to meet up with Fang but considering the fact that Hope had no idea where Fang was in the campus as large as this, he just decided to go through the period alone.

And besides, if he did find Fang, he knew the period would only consist of Fang throwing mocking insults at him with Vanille giggling in the background, something he really didn't feel like going through. And plus, there was nothing wrong with studying, Hope thought.

While heading to the table he usually sat, his eyes spotted a flash of pink near the windows and realized it was Lightning sitting by herself again at the table he enjoyed sitting at.

Hope could easily go to some other table though, he only liked it because of the outside view and natural sunlight he got by sitting there, but every other table was occupied by other students, students Hope didn't know, and he rather sit with Lightning, someone he was somewhat familiar with, than with a complete stranger.

With his mind made up, he made his way over to Lightning and with her keen senses, she immediately whipped her head up towards Hope who waved and smiled sheepishly towards her.

Without asking, he took the seat right across from her.

"I rather be alone." She simply said. Hope took out his notebook and math book.

"I kind of figured that, but I don't." Was all he said before turning to his books and the two worked in silence.

On why Hope willingly chose to sit next to her was something she didn't know but chose not to dwell too much on the subject and quickly dismissed the thought.

In between reading some text from his textbook and jotting down some notes, Hope would occasionally sneak glances towards her when she wasn't looking, her eyes focused on her work, her pink lips closed in a straight line, her long eyelashes slightly blowing in the wind along with her soft hair since the windows beside them were opened.

Hope was already aware of Lightning natural beauty, so it was surprising to realize that she was even more beautiful up close, once he became fully aware of his thoughts, his face turned red and directed his attention back to his textbook. Lightning raised an eyebrow at this.

Yep, some things never changed; Hope was still as awkward as ever.

Hope stared at his math book, struggling to try to understand the material. Nothing on the page made sense to him, and at this rate, he was screwed for the test tomorrow. Everything else up to this point had been fairly simple, now it just suddenly decided to be complicated. _Great._

He groaned, his hands on both sides of his head, ruffling his hair, causing Lightning to glance at him.

"Um, Lightning?"

She placed her elbow on the edge of the table, her hand cradling her head. "Yeah?"

With all the studying she seemed to do, Lightning was probably a bright person, excelling in every subject. So with that in mind, algebra shouldn't be much of a trouble to the rosette, right? It couldn't hurt to ask her for help.

Hope pointed to his book. "Do you think you could help me with this? I don't really understand it."

Lightning leaned over slightly to take a look at what he was talking about. Ah, algebra. When was the last time she did that? Even though it was a while ago, she still had held some knowledge about it.

She extended her hand, signaling him to hand his book over to her. Once it was in her hands, she quickly read over the text to refresh her memory. Half way through the page, everything was coming back. Now the question was; how was she going to explain it to him?

Lightning was never a good teacher or explainer. In fact, she had all the qualities of a bad teacher; impatient, ill-tempered, unsupportive, you name it. Serah was always the better person to ask for help. Even though Serah would occasionally go to her older sister for help, it was obvious Lightning had a soft spot for her and explaining something to her was never a problem since Serah was a fast learner and would understand the concept in a minute or two. But if it was Snow who came to her for help (which was something Lightning never came to understand, but then again, the oaf _was_ an idiot) he would never make it half way through the lesson without a earning a bruise or two from her.

She sighed and handed the text book back to Hope.

He saw the frown upon her beautiful features and took it as she didn't want to help him, and made a face of disappointment.

"It's okay, I'll just—"

Hope was cut off when Lightning ran a finger across the page. "It's not that difficult once you understand the basics, for example here…" Hope looked at the line of text her finger was pointing to and listened to her words. He almost was positive she wasn't going to help with the sigh she let out. What made her change her mind was something he didn't know.

But he was fine it.

To his surprise, Lightning was a better at explaining things than his math teacher, thoroughly explaining everything showing that she really understood the material even though the last time she probably ever touched an algebra textbook was when she was his age. It was amazing how much she remembered. No wonder she was considered one of the top students at Eden despite the apparent 'record' she possesses.

Hope was a smart student, but it was obvious that Lightning was the better one, and a feeling of admiration soon found its way to his heart as he listened more to her strong yet feminine voice which was surprisingly soothing to listen to.

With the way she was explaining things and how she went in depth with everything, it seemed like she actually wanted to help him rather than try to rush through the material so she would be done as quickly as possible.

Maybe Lightning wasn't as cruel as he originally thought.

"Hope, are you listening to me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Hope slightly jumped, shattering his chain of thought.

"Yes, of course I am," her frown softened up. "I think I'm starting to understand it, thanks Lightning. Without you, I would've been screwed" He joked with a smile.

He misunderstood her as a person with no heart when it wasn't like that at all. There was kindness in her not only available to Serah, but to those she felt comfortable around. She could be caring towards others, but that didn't stop her from lashing out her anger to those who are an annoyance to her. Those small caring moments she shares with others were rare, but they were still there.

But underneath it all, Lightning did have a heart.

"Just call me Light."

Hope shot his head up. "Huh?"

She got up and flung her bag on her shoulders, giving him a knowing stare, a small smile tugging at her lips.

_Light_. Once he repeated her nickname in his head, a warm sensation ran throughout his body.

"Wait," he reached out and grabbed her hand before she had a chance to leave. She turned to him. "Will… will I see you around?" feeling his cheeks heat up, he dropped his head to hide it from Lightning. It felt embarrassing to show his weakness to someone as strong as her.

A cold finger flicked his forehead and Hope slowly lifted his head, feeling his face burn more once he saw her soft smile.

She let her finger fall, the cool sensation leaving his forehead too soon. "Maybe, kid." She turned and left leaving Hope sitting by himself, lost in his thoughts.

Even if it was just a second, even if he had to experience her coldness, it was worth seeing that smile of hers.

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter four [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_I love every one of the characters in Final Fantasy 13, which I guess is strange since people either hate Snow, Vanille, or Hope for some reason :/ but not me 83 _**  
**_

_**Preview: **__"I thought you were scared of her, what's with the sudden change of heart?"_

_**Reviews put a smile on my face C8**_

[Last Edited 4/12/11]_**  
**_


	5. your smile

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_

Hiya, I'm back! Sorry this chapter is so short, the next one will be longer I promise C8 I guess you can kind of call this a filler... but it's not really (you'll find out why in the next chapter 8DD) originally this wasn't going to be up this early because my grandparents were coming over (NUUUU.) but instead they're coming next week... great, so I don't know when the next chapter will be up... hopefully I won't be lazy and edit the next chapter before they come so I can just upload it whenever.

And I really appreicate the reviews you guys! Keep 'em coming C8 (they boost my self-esteem XD) they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (whut?) and they also inspire me to stop being lazy and type the chapters LOL ...really. Oh, and the alerts and favs are also great! C8 Thanks so much~ Hope you enjoy this chapter.

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII, hence the fanfiction**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_Do I deserve a chance at happiness?_

_-xxx-_

_**+Chapter five: your smile+ **_

"An annual festival tomorrow?"

Hope sat with his usual group of friends for lunch, ready to take a sip of his water after finishing his meal until Snow brought up the subject of a festival.

"Oh I forgot, since it's your first year here, you don't know about it," Vanille pointed out in her cheery voice.

"Okay, so what is it?" Hope asked.

"It's a festival our school holds every year near the beach," Fang threw in before taking a large bite of her lunch, her appetite almost equal to Snow's which was pretty scary when you thought about her size and figure compared to Snow's. Hope couldn't help but wonder where all that food went.

"Yep, and it's really fun, there's a bunch of fun rides and food to eat!" Vanille said while shooting her hands in the air to emphasize her statement.

Sazh who sat by her side chuckled at the young woman's excitement. "Heh, and don't forget about the chocobos there. You can pet 'em, play with them, all that fun stuff. My son Dajh can't get enough of them," he laughed. "Every year he won't want to leave because he wants to stay and play with the chocobos."

"And not only that," Serah added. "But at the end of the whole thing there's a beautiful fireworks show. It just takes my breath away every year I see it."

Hope nodded, feeling a bit anxious himself about the festival. Sure, his last school did throw a small one every year but it was the students who had to do all the work in setting it up and all, and there were no rides or fireworks, just food and games. It was nice hearing that they could attend this festival without doing any work. And the one here sounded more extravagant than any festival he's been to.

"So as I _was_ saying,"Snow continued. "I have a bunch of friends who help out with the festival every year and this year they said that they could hook us up with free tickets!"

Everyone at the table cheered with excitement and joy, including Fang who originally didn't seem to be all that excited in the manner.

"Ha, way to make yourself useful for once." She joked, quickly finishing the last of her lunch.

Snow ignored her comment and continued on smiling. Vanille was practically jumping out of her seat and Serah gave Snow a big hug.

"Are you serious?" Serah asked, excitement laced in her voice.

"Yep, all I have to do is tell them how many are coming."

"You think you can get tickets for me and Dajh?" Sazh asked.

"Sure can do," Snow replied in his cheery voice.

Hope turned to Snow. "How much are the tickets originally?"

"They're like fifteen dollars each," Fang answered and Hope's eyes widened.

"F-fifteen dollars? Are you serious?"

"No, I just lied to you," she shot back dryly, a smirk playing on her lips. As extravagant as the festival sounded, it was no wonder why the tickets were so expensive. But then again, the school _was_ mostly filled with rich people or people who were willing enough to pay fifteen dollars for a festival ticket.

"So Hope, you coming along?" Snow asked.

"Of course I am," he smiled.

"So that makes… seven tickets," he counted.

Fang smirked. "Impressive." Snow shot her a look. "Quiet, Fang." She merely laughed and put her hands up.

Hope counted the seven on his hands then paused to look at Snow.

"What about Light?"

Lightning, as usual, wasn't with them for lunch, saying she had something to give to a teacher, or something along those lines. She didn't really explain too well what she had to do but it seemed pretty urgent.

Fang raised a thin eyebrow then laughed. "I thought you were scared of her, what's with the sudden change of heart?" she mocked causing Hope's cheeks to pink slightly but luckily with the bright sun shining their way, it made his features brighter and rosier so the blush was, hopefully, unnoticeable.

"Well, I j-just thought she'll like to go, too," he explained softly. Even if it probably didn't matter to her whether or not Snow thought about getting her a ticket, it made Hope feel bad that she was being excluded.

"Then think again, kiddo," Snow said.

Serah nodded. "She never wants to go; actually, she never even went once; said it wasn't her thing so we just stopped asking her all together."

Hope thought for a while. Serah was right; festivals and rides, or just fun in general, didn't seem to fit Lightning's likings. She was hard-working, maybe a little _too _hard-working, and took no nonsense, and with no time to make for fun. Even he would be shocked to see her at a public event such as the festival. She wasn't the type of person to willingly go to hang out at a place with a bunch of people around, her being unsocial and all. But it couldn't hurt to just ask if she wanted to go.

"I'll ask her if she wants to go," Hope said bravely earning him a smile from Serah and Vanille and a smirk from Fang.

Snow laughed. "Okay, do whatever you want, just make sure to tell me if she's coming by the end of the day."

Nodding, Hope got up to gather his things together. "Got it."

_-xxx-_

Originally, Hope was going to ask Serah if she could ask Lightning if she wanted to go instead because Serah, of course, was closer to Lightning than he can ever hope to be and she probably enjoyed her presence over his.

Luckily, Hope spotted Serah on campus just before heading over to his business class.

"Hey, Serah!"

The younger sibling turned around and smiled to the teen. "Hey Hope, what's up?"

"I was, um, wondering if you could ask Light if she wanted to come to the festival with us since maybe she might consider it if you were the one to ask."

"I would ask her but I already told Snow that I'll go with him to the festival to get the tickets." She said.

"Oh…"

"Don't worry about it," Serah waved to the boy. "See you then, good luck!" she winked.

Secretly, Hope wanted Lightning to come with them to the festival. Maybe if she was with her friends, something she hasn't done in a while, she would smile that beautiful smile of hers. Hope felt his cheeks warm at the thought of her smile, something he hasn't been able to get out of his head for a while.

Though Hope wasn't that scared of Lightning anymore, being around her still made him nervous.

Once he was in the apartment building, he made his way to his floor and knocked on her door, waiting for an answer while playing with his fingers.

"Hope? What are you doing here?" Lightning asked once the door was opened. Hope lifted his head to her and smiled.

"Hey Light, you know the festival is tomorrow right?" he asked innocently. He heard a sigh escape her lips as she leaned against the wall inside her home.

"You too, huh?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She got up and straightened her posture. "All week, all I've been hearing from people is the festival. I don't even understand why they make such a big deal out of it."

"Well, of course you wouldn't, you haven't even gone once…" he said softly. So, now that he was in front of her ready to ask, how on earth was he going to convince her to go to the festival when she was so against the idea of going? "So why don't you come with us tomorrow? You haven't been with your friends in a while, right?"

Lightning shook her head. "No thank you, I prefer not to go."

Then an idea popped into his head.

"Aw, why not, Light? How would you know if you won't have fun if you never even went _once_?" he asked her. When she didn't respond Hope took that as a sign to continue. "Just once, you only have to go to the one tomorrow and if you don't like it, you don't have to go anymore, you can even leave early if you want!"

She turned her head away, her pink fringe slightly falling over her eyes. "Why do you want me to go so badly anyways?"

Hope's cheek slightly turned pink. He couldn't tell her it was because he wanted to see her smile, it was far too embarrassing to say aloud to her, and he might even make her mad.

"B-because, I just thought you might like it, you know, time to get away from the university life and school work, time to just to enjoy yourself," he told her. Hope stood in front of her, waiting for an answer. With the long silence and time it was taking her to respond, he couldn't tell if she was considering of going or wasn't going to go at all.

"Fine, fine, I'll go," she sighed.

Hope's eyes lit up at her answer. "Really? You'll go?" When Lightning as an expert in hiding her emotions, Hope wasn't. He couldn't stop the large smile coming on, even when facing Lightning's annoyed face.

"Yes," she said harshly. "I'll go if that'll make you stop talking." Hope smiled in victory.

"You'll have fun, Light, you'll see," he promised her and with that, turned to leave, waving her good bye. She slightly lifted her hand up as a wave.

"Heh," she lifted her head to see Hope enter his room not to far from hers, her stoic expression slowly softening.

"Still as persistent as ever."

_-xxx-_

Once Hope was in his room, door closed, he took out his cell phone and quickly called Snow, hoping that the blond was still at the festival and that he didn't take that long in getting an answer out of Lightning.

On the second day of their meeting, Snow had insisted on giving the young boy his number, too eager to keep in touch despite the fact that they had only just met. And soon, the others were going to him to exchange numbers.

It took only two rings for Snow to pick up. _"Hello?"_

"Um, Snow, are you still at the festival?"

"_Yeah I am, did you get an answer from sis yet?"_

"Yep, she's coming," he said with a grin.

"_What? She's _coming_? Seriously?"_ Snow shouted into the phone causing Hope to yank the phone away from his now throbbing ears. Once it was safe, he had brought the device back to his ear only to hear Serah in the background going "What? Is she really?" with excitement.

"_Man, I never thought I'll see the day, _the _Lightning Farron, going to a festival like a normal person." _He joked with a laugh. Somewhere in the back of his mind Hope expected Snow to be punched by Lightning only to remember that Lightning was back at home away from the conversation.

"_But, I mean, how did you do it?" _Hope could hear the curiosity laced within the older man's rough voice.

"I just, um, asked?" His answer erupted laughter from Snow which Hope didn't understand.

"_Really, you _just _asked her?" _He questioned. _"All the other times we've asked, she always said no, she even said no when Serah asked her," _Hope heard Snow pause for a breath. _"You sure there was no condition set for you or anything?"_

"Ha ha," Hope said dryly. "Just get the tickets."

"_Yeah, got it covered, see you at the festival kiddo."_

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter five [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n:**___ YAY, festival time! LOL, I thought of this when a carnival came to our town and I was like "OH! They could go to a festival!" because I needed something to go here and I there were A LOT of plot holes...

LOL and I don't think I can count... I had to change the number of people going so many times. First I had to change it because I forgot about Sazh, then I remembered he had a son... (Yeh, I fail.)

_**Preview: **__"Why Claire?"  
_(Muahaha, because I'm just that evil 8DD /shot)_  
_

_**Review please! C8**_

[Last Edited: 1/29/11]_**  
**_


	6. In the Sky that Night

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_Hey guys! Good news, my relatives aren't coming so I got to edit this chapter earlier. But since this is the second time they canceled, I have no idea if they're even coming or not... (hopefully not 8D)

Good god, I'd edited, reread, fixed this chapter so many times, I'm sick of it. Originally I was going to post this chapter last night but I wasn't really proud of it (and plus I ran out of time to edit it;;) and thank god I didn't since I found so many typos in it XDD But I guess now you can finally find out who said that quote in the last chapter 8DDD

And you guys are amazing! Thanks so much for the reviews, favs, and alerts! They really mean a lot to me to know that people are actually reading this fanfic of mine XDD The reviews you guys give are so awesome that every time I read one, I feel inspired to work on the chapters 8DD  
So because you guys are so amazing, I dedicate this chapter to you all 8DD (Hopefully it's not crappy and you'll enjoy it XDD)_**  
**_

_**Disclaimer: If I owned Final Fantasy XIII, I would have demanded more Hope/Lightning scenes be put in 8DD**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_On a night like this, lets forget our worries and laugh like there's no tomorrow, even if it's all a lie._

_**+Chapter six: In the Sky that Night+**_

"Wow, this… this is amazing!"

Hope stared in awe at his surroundings, the Eden Festival, with wide eyes and a large smile, eager for the awaiting fun.

Everything was lit up with bright colorful lights in the dark night, the numerous lights reflecting off of everyone's joyous faces. The place was littered with a bunch of people he'd seen around on campus. Hope had never seen so many colors and bright lights mixed together before and the view was breath taking. There were food stalls all around with people crowding around them, selling delicious smelling food, the smell flying around caused Hope's stomach to rumble. And just as Vanille had said, there were rides everywhere, each of them right next to each other followed by a large line of people eagerly waiting for their turn. Laughter was heard everywhere and everyone had a smile on their face.

Of course there weren't just people from the academy, there were also family members, the people of Bodhum, all gathered on one spot to enjoy the night together. To say the place was crowded was an understatement.

Snow and the rest laughed at the teen's reaction, saying that they felt the same they first stepped foot onto the crowded place. Lightning who was not far from Hope's side held a look of indifference, bored by the whole thing really, arms firmly crossed across her chest. She regretted letting that kid drag her into all this.

With that in mind, why did she? She was becoming too soft, that's what.

She felt an elbow at her side, immediately suspecting it to Snow, turned to the culprit with angry eyes.

"C'mon, Light, loosen up, the night just started." She softened her glare when she met Hope's kind and excited eyes.

Snow patted her back though it came more as a hard smack, causing her to move forward a bit. "Yeah, sis, turn that frown upside-down!" He laughed with his goofy smile as Light shrugged his hand off her back with disgust.

"Hey, guys," the group turned around and spotted Sazh slowly approaching the group waving to them with while the rest waved back. The older man turned to the smaller kid holding onto his other hand. "Dajh, say 'hi' to everyone."

The little boy listened obediently to his father and waved to everyone with a smile while Serah and Vanille gushed over the boy's cuteness. Sazh stood by and chuckled. "We're going to be by the chocobos, you kids go off on your own, we'll meet up with you later."

The group waved to the departing father and son. "Hey, guys!" Vanille suddenly cheered, jumping up and down, pointing to something in the near distance. It was something resembling a roller coaster and from the distance, Hope could see a large line already forming. "Let's go on that one!"

Everyone cheered and ran full speed over to the ride, racing each other with Fang taking the lead and Snow not too far behind grabbing onto Serah's hand and pulling her with him, partially slowing the man down. Hope tagged along and was prepared to follow them until he saw Lightning staying behind, not moving from her spot. He ran over to her and grabbed her hand. "C'mon, Light, you don't want to be left behind do you?"

She scoffed. "More of a chance to make my escape." She said dryly. He ignored her comment and dragged her along with him. Hope was determined to show Light a good time whether she liked it or not.

_-xxx-_

Hope stood in line besides Lightning who was turned the other way, arms crossed, still bored. He sighed. She really was stubborn.

But then again, so was he.

"Can't you at least give this night a chance?" he asked weakly.

Because of the many people around them, it was easy to lose sight of their friends, especially with the bright lights and towering rides obstructing their view. Luckily, Hope knew where they would be and directed Lightning over to the roller coaster. Hopefully they would be on the ride the same time as them. But for now, he was stuck with a fairly annoyed Lightning.

Hope glanced over to Lightning; her arms still crossed with a frown running deeply through her features. Great, with the face she was making and her immediate disgust over the festival, how was he going to show her a good time like he promised?

A man in front of them, presumably part of the staff, motioned them over. "Light, it's our turn! Let's go," he grinned. Maybe if he smiled enough, she would soon feel the urge to smile herself. That was his only plan for now. He knew that he felt happy whenever his friends smiled around him. Maybe it was the same for Lightning.

He tugged on her arm and she followed behind him with no where else to go and took the seat next to him.

Once all the seats were full and the staff made sure that everyone was seated safely, the ride started.

Hope rarely went on roller coasters and this ride had reminded him why. In a blink of an eye, the cart shot forward, pushing all the riders back in their seat, quickly accelerating its speed up and down the bumpy tracks, making Hope a little nauseous. Why he had forgotten the fact that he hated roller coasters was beyond him but he felt bad for Lightning who had to endure all his screaming. She sat besides him without a word, no screaming, cries of joy, nothing.

When the ride was over, Hope was amazed he got out in one piece and hunched over the exit fence, positive he was going to faint with the way he was shaking and how fast his heart was pounding. Lightning on the other hand, was unaffected by the ride, her stoic expression unchanging.

Hope looked over to Lightning expecting to see a small smile but did not. _You have got to be kidding me!_

He then felt his phone vibrating as he straightened his posture, reaching into his pocket to answer it.

"Hello?"

"_Hope? Where are you guys?" _Hope had to strain his ears to try to pick up on what Snow was saying with all the noise on the other end. What was he talking about? Weren't they just on the same ride?

"Light and I just got off that roller coaster, what about you?"

"_We got off that a while ago, we decided to wait for you guys but we can't find you."_ Of course he couldn't find them, not in a place as large as this with this many people. It felt like they were surrounded by the entire population of Bodhum. And even with all the bright lights, it was still pretty dark when walking around the place, making it harder for them to find each other.

"_Then how about this, we'll—" _Snow was cut off when someone grabbed the phone from him, with the noises Hope was hearing on the other end, that was what he suspected.

"_Hope?"_ Oh, it was Serah. _"Hey don't worry about us; it's probably going to take us the whole night just trying to find you guys in a crowd as large as this. Just go have fun with Light and be careful! We'll meet up in the parking lot at the end of the festival."_

Hope glanced over to Lightning when Serah mentioned her. She was close enough to hear parts of the conversation since Serah was talking rather loudly so Hope would be able to hear her over the background noise. He nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll see you later then." Once he hung up, he stared at the phone in his hand, almost certain Serah _wanted _him to be stuck with Lightning all night. He then heard a sigh escape from Lightning's lips.

"Now what?"

Hope looked around, desperately trying to find a ride Lightning might enjoy. "Um… let's go on that one." He pointed to a towering spinning pole in the near distance with a bunch of swings flying around it. He didn't wait for Lightning's answer and just grabbed her wrist for the umpteenth time that night and ran over to the ride, knowing that she would run the other way if he didn't.

_This is going to be a long night._

_-xxx-_

Exhausted from all the running around, Hope sat in a slump on a nearby bench, arms out stretched and laying on the top of the bench with Lightning sitting not too far away, looking the other way. He had to admit; trying to make Lightning smile took a lot out of him.

Hope was starting to think that her smiles were only a once in a lifetime thing because so far, the night had been a fail. He dragged Lightning to at least to all of the rides in the festival all resulting in the same bored expression she wore. He could tell that her patience was wavering and that she wanted to leave. He tried his hardest to convince her stay a little longer and she only agreed to stay to shut him up.

The night was almost over and he didn't even make her smile even once, not even a crack of a smile or a glint of excitement in her eyes.

It was so awkward being stuck with Lightning, there was nothing to talk about, nothing to laugh about (she barely laughed herself), he envied his friends who were together and enjoying the festival.

_Probably having a hell of a time_, he thought.

Nearby where the two were sitting was a small stall selling hotdogs and other festival foods. Once the smell reached Hope's nose, his stomach let out a loud grumble. He blushed as Lightning looked over with a thin eyebrow raised.

Laughing nervously, he got up. "I-I'll be right back." He said while pointing to the stall. She nodded.

Hope made his way over to purchase a hotdog and soon returned back to Lightning's side, taking a large bite out of the hotdog. He never realized how hungry he was until he took that first bite, he was so busy worrying about Lightning and trying to keep her happy that he had forgotten how hungry he originally was.

Glancing over to Lightning then his hotdog, he realized he never asked her if she wanted any.

"You—uh— want some?" he asked while holding it out to her, the unbitten side that is of course, not wanting her to see him as a pig. The last thing he wanted was to be placed in the same category as Snow.

She turned away. "No, I'm fine."

Hope would have believed her words if he didn't hear a growl come from Lightning's stomach causing her to slightly flinch. He brought a hand to his mouth, trying his best not to laugh at the rosette, but failed.

"Okay~, what ever you say, Light," he joked, obviously enjoying himself too much. She turned back to face him, her eyes narrowing.

"Cheeky brat," she growled lowly, punching the arm that was holding the hotdog, causing it to fall from his hands.

"Ouch, Light, what was that for?" Hope rubbed his arm while Light quickly reached over and caught the falling hotdog with ease and took a bite out of it. "Hey!" He reached over to try to take his hotdog back but Lightning stopped him by placing her other hand in front of his face, keeping him from getting any closer as she finished the hotdog, smirking in victory.

"C'mon, Light," Hope pouted as she finished the remains of the hotdog.

She got up, softly smoothing out her shorts of bread crumbs. "Now we're even." She said, obviously referring him in dragging her all over the festival against her will.

"Oh, I see how it is," There went his dinner he thought sadly. Hope's eyes then trailed over in the other direction when something bright caught his attention. His entire face lit up as he reached over and lightly pulled on Lightning's arm. There was still hope. There was still a chance she would smile.

"What is it this time?" she huffed and turned to what Hope was looking at, her expression dropping, glaring at the large spinning wheel in the distance. "You can't be serious, there's no way I'm—"

Hope didn't listen to her protests as usual and directed her towards the towering ride, lights flashing brightly in the sky; the ferris wheel; the only ride they had yet to ride.

_-xxx-_

"You're joking right?"

"But it's the only ride we didn't go on though," Hope slightly whined.

She crossed her arms. "But that doesn't mean that we have to ride—"

A man from the staff appeared in front of the two. "How many?" He questioned. Lightning stared coldly at the older man, causing him to shrink back.

"Two," Hope answered eagerly, his expression the exact opposite of his pink-haired companion.

"Just you and your girlfriend?" he asked. Once the word 'girlfriend' left his mouth Hope's face flushed a deep red while Lightning proceeded in giving the man a death stare.

"N-no! J-just—just friends," Hope corrected, trying to be as smooth as possible about the subject. The man nodded, directing them to an empty pod and closed the door behind them once they were inside.

"Moron," Hope heard Lightning whisper and soon the ride started.

The two sat across from each other without a word. Hope moved closer to the window on his right since there was really nothing else to look at besides Lightning (but he would feel like a creeper for staring at her). The view from where they were in the air was amazing and Hope realized that he had been away from Bodhum for far too long. Not too far from the festival was the beach, like Fang had said the other day, and the moon was shining nicely over the ocean, lighting it up along with the lights from the festival causing the water to shine and sparkle. He never realized how much he missed the view of the ocean or the salty air of the beach since he was mostly at school the whole day and he didn't really have a view of the beach from his apartment window.

When the ferris wheel turned them away from the beach and back to the festival, Hope noticed how small it looked from up high and how the people were even smaller.

"Light! You have to see this, it's amazing!" he motioned over to her without taking his eyes off of the view, not wanting to miss a single thing.

Lightning leaned back in her seat, not interested in participating with Hope in Bodhum sightseeing since she's seen basically everything in the town since she lived there. She kept her arms crossed over her chest and looked away from the boy, frowning.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" Hope turned away from the window to face Lightning. Unfortunately since she was turned the other way he couldn't see her expression well and her words didn't really hold much emotion.

"What do you mean?"

Lightning adjusted the way she was sitting and crossed her long legs. "I thought you were scared of me." She said quietly almost to herself. She slowly felt the ferris wheel come to a stop and turned to the window to see that they were almost at the top with a view of the beach.

"Fearing someone and hating someone are two totally different things, don't you think?" Lightning glanced over to Hope who was smiling kindly to her.

Lightning didn't have time to react to his words when a loud bang was heard from outside and Hope eagerly turned back to the window, curious on what the sound was. Once he made it to the window, his line of vision was suddenly filled with many brightly colored lights lighting up the dark evening sky.

"Light! The fireworks are starting!" he called over to her. Lightning slowly moved over to the window to take a look. In all her entire twenty-one years of living in Bodhum, she had never experienced the famous Bodhum fireworks since they were only put on at the very festival she was always so against going to. The colors sparkled and danced across the sky, even when they faded away, a faint color was still visible, marking the sky.

Hope had seen many fireworks shows before with his friends and dad back in Palumpolum, but none of them could compare to the one right now. The fireworks constantly came, one after another, never stopping. She looked down at the ocean and could see the many colors reflected off its glassy surface, giving it a distorted reflection. Another loud bang came and she shot her head back up to get a look at it before she missed it, unable to hold back a small gasp as the colorful lights exploded into the sky.

Hope sneaked a glance over at Light and couldn't help but smile when he saw the corners of her lips slightly upturned into a small smile of her own, just as beautiful as he remembered. She didn't take her eyes off the beautiful colors, wanting to engrave the beautiful colors in her memory. She only turned away once when she heard a chuckle come out of Hope's mouth.

"What?" she asked annoyed, suspicious of the glint in his eyes.

Once his chuckle subsided, he spoke. "Nothing, it's just that you look like a child who's never seen fireworks before." Hope jumped once Lightning punched him in the same spot as earlier.

"Ouch, Light, not again," he complained, the small smile still on his face.

She scoffed. "You'll live." Lightning then turned back to look at the fireworks flashing in the sky. Maybe this was the reason why people were always so excited when the festival came around. Other than their voices, the bang of the fireworks was all that was heard.

"Hey, Light," She turned to him and saw the colors of the fireworks reflecting off his face and guessed it was probably the same for her. "Do you know these are wish-granting fireworks?"

She turned her attention back to the fireworks, almost chuckling at his childish comment. "Hn, who told you that?"

Hope silently laughed along with her. "Vanille did."

A large shower of little pink lights fell from the sky from the previous fireworks. They were so close, Hope was so tempted to reach out his hand and touch the lights and cursed the glass of the window that was in his way.

"What did you wish for?"

Slightly blushing, Hope looked away from the fireworks for a second then turned back to them. "That I'll be able to see Claire again some time soon." Lightning froze and slowly backed away from the window and soon the fireworks show were closing to an end as the last firework sparkled in the sky, much to Hope's disappointment. The moment the last firework lit up in the sky, the ride had ended. Lightning was the first to get out with Hope trailing behind her.

"There you guys are!"

Hope and Lightning both turned to the source of the voice to see the bright smile of Serah and the rest of the gang near the ride's exit. Hope and Lightning slowly made their way out of the ride to meet up with everyone else. Serah then ran towards Lightning to wrap her arms around the older sibling.

"Where were you guys?" Hope asked once he turned away from Serah and Lightning.

Snow laughed while scratching the back side of his head. "Surprisingly, we just got off the same ride as you did. Vanille and Serah insisted on it." he said while pointing a thumb towards the two.

Vanille, happy to see the silver blond again, skipped over to him. "Did you have a good time?" she asked with Fang behind her. Hope nodded in response to her question.

Fang lowered herself to Hope's level and leaned in close to his ear, a large smirk playing on her lips. "Do anything exciting while we were gone?" she asked while looking over to Lightning talking to Serah. Once Hope got her message, he jumped and turned beet red.

"F-fang!" he screamed. Fang erupted in laughter while Vanille giggled besides her. Fang slapped a firm hand against his back, causing the young teen to jump again. "I'm just playing with you."

Hope reached behind his back to rub the sore spot. "Ha ha, very funny," he said dryly.

_-xxx-_

Once Serah and Lightning were back in the comforts of their home, Lightning was the first to collapse on the couch, feeling all the energy drained out of her thanks to a certain silver haired boy.

Serah closed the door behind her and glanced over to her sister with a smile. "Tired I'm guessing?"

"Tch, that kid decided to bring me to every freakin' ride in the festival." She said with a soft smile.

Serah proceeded to laugh at Lightning. How long had it been since she had seen her older sibling so tired? Way too long. It was a refreshing experience to see her exhausted for once.

"Did you have fun?" she asked while taking a seat besides Lightning.

Lightning glanced over to Serah and slightly nodded. "Surprisingly, yeah." Serah couldn't help but smile even wider. It's been a while since she has been truly happy and Serah was glad for her.

"All thanks to Hope, I guess," Serah said while Lightning remained silent.

Silence lingered in the air while Serah looked over to Lightning once more time before speaking again. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it, Serah?"

"Um," she looked back at her hands that were currently resting on her lap. "Do you… remember that boy you told me about all those years ago? The boy you gave your necklace to?"

Lightning froze and lowered her eyelids, the floor suddenly becoming the most interesting thing to her.

"Have you told him?"

Lightning sighed and stood up.

Serah followed suit and got up on her feet. "Will you ever tell him?" she asked, raising her voice slightly, staring at the back of her head.

"No."

Serah let out a frustrated sigh. "And why not?"

"It's none of your business, Serah," she said coldly. Serah flinched slightly, suddenly feeling out of place in her own home. Lightning usually never used that tone with Serah, maybe sometimes to discipline her, but never had she talked to her in such a cold manner.

But Serah wasn't just going to let a matter as important as this remain as it was.

"But he's looking for you!"

"I know that!" Lightning shot back angrily, her patience fading.

"B-but I don't understand, he deserves to know the truth…" she tried to reason and in order to do that, she knew she had to stand her ground against her older sibling no matter how angry she got. Lightning kept silent and slowly started making her way out of the living room and away from Serah. Lightning wasn't going to answer but Serah needed to get to the bottom of this. It was for her own good.

Lightning had a tendency to build an invisible wall separating her from the people about her. Serah knew it was keep her safe and to keep others far away from her, fearing that either she will hurt them or they will hurt her. But she couldn't live her life like this, locking away her feelings and pushing the ones that love and care for her away. If she kept this up, she will just end up a lonely soul and she couldn't have that happen to her sister.

Serah lowered her head. "It is because of _him_…?" she asked almost in a whisper.

Lightning turned around slightly. "It has nothing to do with him," she growled.

She shot her head up. "Then why are you hiding it from him? Hope is a mature kid, he'll understand!"

"It's because he's still a kid that he won't understand." She shot back, turning her back to Serah.

"But Clai—"

"Enough!" Lightning shouted back, causing Serah to jump back. She let her gaze fall back to the floor as Lightning walked to her bedroom door. "I'm going to sleep," she whispered quietly.

Serah flinched once she heard the door slam and dropped back to the couch.

"Why Claire?"

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter six [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Yes, why Claire? D8 But I guess you guys won't be finding that out anytime soon (XD;;) Actually, I myself have no idea how this came out to be 30 something chapters long DD8 but rest assured, it's not going to take 30 something chapters for Hope to figure out the truth... lolAnd to tease you guys some more, here's the preview C8 _**  
**_

_**Preview: **__"I can't tell you."_

_**Please Review C8**_

[Last Edited 4/12/11]_**  
**_


	7. The Unspoken Words of Yesterday

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n:**_ Yay! Second chapter this week C8 Hope you guys enjoy the surprise and this chapter 8DD

On another note... I seriously do not understand people DDD8

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter XDD (I wonder how it came out since I was pretty pissed when writing this XDD)

_**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix.**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_Do I have the right to ask for your forgiveness? _

_**+Chapter seven: The Unspoken Words of Yesterday+**_

Hope sat outside in the school courtyard, sketchbook in hand, pencil in the other, trying to focus on the landscape in front of him, but unfortunately for him, he had other things on his mind.

It's been about five days since the festival. Normally, the fact that it's been five days since that fun night wouldn't bother him, let alone resurface in his head more than once, but it was because of the fact that Lightning had been avoiding him since. He had gone to all the places he would usually see her and she was never there, almost like she didn't want to see him.

Did he do something wrong? It didn't seen like she was angry at him, maybe slightly annoyed that night, but that had changed once the fireworks came on and even after then, nothing seemed to be wrong after they separated and went back to their rooms. Hope was completely stumped.

_Looks like its back square one._

With that in mind, Hope couldn't concentrate on anything interesting in the courtyard to sketch, his mind wavering and trying to figure out the reasons behind Lightning's strange behavior. Maybe Serah had something in mind that would spark some creativity in him or some answers to his many questions about Lightning.

Hope lightly elbowed Serah so that he wouldn't mess her up on her drawing but that seemed to fail when she jumped dramatically and dropped her pencil, her heart racing.

Blinking, he cautiously poked her arm. "Serah? I—um—didn't mean to scare you… Are you okay?"

Serah quickly calmed down and reached down to pick up her pencil. "Mm, yeah, why do you ask?" she asked with a smile. Hope hovered over her sketchbook and raised an eyebrow.

"Is there any reason why there's a picture of Light in your sketchbook?" Serah let out a yelp and proceeded in erasing her picture. Hope brought his hands up to try to stop her. "Wait Serah, don't get me wrong, it's good, it's just that I don't think that Light is part of the scenery…"

Serah slowly stopped erasing leaving only the hair untouched by the eraser. There was something bothering her, Hope could sense it. She wasn't acting like her usual bubbly self, something he often found himself looking forward to every art class.

_Great, now both of the Farrons are acting weirdly,_ Hope thought dryly.

He reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to look over to him. "Is there something wrong?" he glanced at the half-erased picture of Lightning. "Did something happen to Light?"

She smiled sadly. "Yeah, and it's all my fault." She said, her voice trailing off and Hope had to strain his ears to catch the last part of her sentence.

Hope's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"She hasn't talked to me since the festival."

Hope moved back a bit in shock. "You can't be serious, can you? She didn't even say a word to you?"

"She did, maybe a word or two now and then, but I could tell that she wasn't in the best mood."

"What happened?" Hope asked. It was obvious how precious Serah was to Lightning, going as far as doing everything in her power in keeping her own boyfriend away from her. The fact that Lightning wasn't talking to Serah was shocking. Sure, they were sisters and it was normal for siblings to argue over something but for Lightning to ignore her for five days was unusual. Sure, she ignored him for five days but he didn't hold such a high place in her heart.

She clutched her fist and slowly turned away.

"I can't tell you," she whispered.

Hope slowly nodded, hurt that she couldn't tell him. But he had to try to smile for Serah or else she'll try to blame everything on her again.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure it'll blow over soon," Hope said reassuringly.

Serah shot her head up, shaking her head. "No Hope, you don't understand, she—"

"—loves and cherishes you with all her heart, way too much to hold a grudge against you for long."

Serah lowered her head. There was no use in trying to convince Hope otherwise. She couldn't even tell him why Lightning was mad in the first place, knowing of the consequences to come once she found out Hope knew. But it bothered her! She was so tempted to just let it out, to tell him the truth so that he would know that his days of searching for Claire were over. But it wasn't something she could say easily, and plus, it wasn't her place to tell Hope. The person who had to tell him was Lightning herself but she knew that day would probably never come, not with the way Lightning was now.

"I hope you're right."

Hope softly laughed, hoping to cheer her up a bit. "I hope I am too," Serah slightly smiled despite the emotions she was feeling inside.

He really was too kind. He didn't deserve to have such a big secret hidden from him.

Once Hope saw Serah's small smile, he felt confident that she was feeling better and returned to his work and tried focusing on something to draw. He started his pencil once he caught something interesting to draw.

"Um, Hope?" he quickly finished the rough sketch before turning to Serah. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

She slowly brought her head up, turning to Hope.

"Can you try to get closer to Light? You know, get her to open up more?"

Hope slightly lowered his head before answering. "Oh, about that Serah, I don't think I can—"

Serah reached over and grabbed his hand. "I believe you can," Hope was about to open his mouth to ask her why but Serah wasn't done talking. "I saw how happy she was at the festival, it's been a while since she's smiled like that." Serah paused. "So please? Just this one favor?"

She released his hand as Hope went to scratch his head, avoiding her gaze. "I, um, don't know about that…"

"Please…" she begged. Hope gave her one last look before giving in to her pleading eyes. He sighed.

"I'll try…"

"Thank you," she said while leaning over to loosely hug him. Once she broke the hug Hope could see the hopefulness she had on her face, the complete opposite of how he was feeling. The two turned away and returned to their work and Hope once again found his focus wavering.

He let out a breath. _But Serah, she only sees me as a child…_

"_Don't waste your breath, kid."_

"_Maybe, kid."_

_And who would want to open up to a kid?_

_-xxx-_

Hope walked out of the Art Building with his head down, his eyes focused on his dark shoes walking in front of each other, sighing.

Serah really had too much faith in him.

Sure, Hope would like to believe that Light didn't completely think of him as an annoyance but she didn't actually talk to him all that much. How was he going to make her "open up" to him? He would probably be the _last _person she would want to open up to.

If Serah couldn't do it, how on earth was he going to?

Though, with the ways things were before, it could've been possible but with her ignoring him now, it was nearly impossible.

"Did I do something wrong?" Hope asked to no one in particular. She seemed fine on Friday at the festival, well, maybe not in the beginning (she was kind of pissed off) but as the night went on, she seemed to loosen up a little. And she did smile that beautiful smile of hers; that had to be something.

Hope froze.

That was what, at least the fifth time that today that Lightning was on his mind. Recently, she was all he thought about, day and night, almost to the point where it was getting a little bit creepy.

_I-I mean, she is harsh most of the times b-but it's kinda cute when she smi— _Hope didn't allow himself to finish the thought and started to slap his face repeatedly, earning him questioning looks by onlookers, his cheeks burning. He shouldn't be having these kinds of thoughts about Lightning. She would probably kill him if she even knew half the things he was thinking about her.

But even so, his mind didn't listen to him, suddenly all he was thinking about was Lightning, the way her soft pink hair would softly blow in the wind, the fierceness she held in her deep blue eyes that were partially hidden by her fringe, and how very rarely the corners of her lips would slightly twitch into a small but sincere smile. Hope felt his cheeks heat up even more and was thankful that no one like Vanille or Fang were around to tease him. After smashing the last image of Lightning out of his head, Hope stormed off to class, hoping that that would be the last time he would be thinking of Lightning.

_-xxx-_

Hope sat at his regular lab table with his classmates, waiting for the teacher to arrive. He quickly took out his notebook ready to take notes, fully aware of the fact that his teacher hated the idea of coming into a class with a bunch of kids goofing around and unprepared for class.

Suddenly, in the corner of his eyes, Hope saw Vanille race into the classroom and jumped behind Hope.

"Surprise!" she cheered.

He smiled weakly, laughing slightly. "It doesn't work when I saw you."

Vanille pouted and took her seat besides him. "Oh well," she smiled, reaching for her notebook in her bag. Once she plopped the notebook in front of her she paused for a second and placed a finger to her lips.

"Say, Hope…." He glanced over to Vanille while she continued. "Have you seen Lightning lately?"

It was an innocent question really. But that didn't stop Hope from jumping and falling off his seat in an embarrassing manner causing all the chatter in the classroom to seize and everyone's attention to turn to the boy, cheeks ablaze.

Once they saw that he was still moving and okay, they turned away and continued on talking like nothing had happened.

Hope reached up and grabbed his seat, lifting his body up and laying on his chair, still feeling jittery, face still red as a tomato.

"W-wh-what makes you say that?" he finally choked out, his voice slightly squeaking. Vanille held back an amused laugh. Hope got back on his two feet and sat back down in his chair.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you knew why she's been acting differently lately."

Hope scratched his head. "What do you mean?"

Vanille leaned back in her chair, slightly spinning it around. "She's more distant… like more than usual. I don't know, something just seems a little off about her." She faced him. "Do you have any idea on why she's acting like this?"

Hope snorted. "Pssh, how would I know?" As cheerful as he tried to sound, Hope couldn't stop the tingle of sadness he felt at the pit of his stomach. Hopefully Vanille wouldn't notice and the feeling would go away before she did.

She shrugged. "I don't know, you two seemed to be close from what I saw at the festival."

Soon, the teacher showed up and everyone ran back to their seats and the lesson started.

"You're just imagining things."

Hope scribbled the notes on the board to his notebook, trying to keep his mind focused on the lesson but he couldn't help but wonder back to Vanille's question from earlier. And the sting of sadness found its way back to him.

The more Hope thought about Lightning's strange behavior, the more he questioned his relationship with her. He was confident before that they were somewhat friends and that he would finally learn something about her. But instead of talking about her problems, she chose to avoid everyone despite the fact that something was obviously bothering her, not even going to Serah to talk.

Maybe, she just didn't trust him as much as he originally thought.

_-xxx-_

Once the last dish was placed on the table, Serah walked to her seat and waited for her sister to join her. Handing her a napkin, Lightning took her seat across from Serah and the two started their silent dinner.

Out of all the dinners and meals Serah had shared Lightning so far, they had never been as silent and awkward as this. Usually Lightning would ask of her day and she would go off on how good or day it was and eventually, once she was done explaining her day, Serah would ask Lightning the same question, her answer always the usual "Nothing special" and the topic would go off to something else.

That was usually how dinner went, but not tonight.

Serah stirred in her seat uncomfortably. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. It wasn't supposed to be awkward between the two sisters and Serah hated the silence that surrounded them. Glancing across the table, Lightning acted like usual, like today was as normal as it could be. Only that she still wasn't talking. She was still mad.

Taking her fork in her hand, she silently played with the food resting on her plate. "Um, Sis?"

"Hmm?" she asked without bringing her head up, continuing to eat. Serah placed her fork down and placed her hands on her lap.

"I'm sorry," Once her apology left her mouth, Lightning tilted her head up slightly, emotionless as always. "I-I shouldn't have said the things I've said…" she swallowed and glanced at Lightning to check if she was still listening. "But I—"

Lightning lowered her head back down. "It's fine, Serah."

Eyes wide, Serah fully lifted her head up. "A-are you sure? I mean you—"

"It's fine."

Though her words didn't mean to sound menacing, that didn't stop Serah from thinking that way. She shrunk back in her seat and started to eat while Lightning was already halfway done.

And throughout the rest of dinner, even though she had said it was fine, it didn't feel that way at all.

She still wasn't forgiven.

_-xxx-_

Lightning was done with her dinner way before Serah, who was quietly taking her time. She had gone to the living room to read, waiting for Serah to finish up. Once she had cleared her plate, the clank of the silverware and plates to the sink caused Lightning to get off of the couch and walk over to the kitchen, gently scooting Serah to the side while she turned on the water.

"No, it's okay, I'll wash the dishes." Serah offered.

Without taking her eyes off the dirty dishes, she replied. "It's fine, I'll do it." her words empty and without emotion.

Serah lowered her head and silently watched her sister scrub the dishes with soap. "I'm sorry, Light."

She sighed. "Don't be ridiculous, Serah."

Slowly nodding, she walked away into her room knowing that would be the last word they would exchange with each other that night.

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter seven [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n:**_ Wow... haha... the fanfiction isn't even 1/3 done... oh god...

But on another note, thank you so much for the reviews! (I have never gotten this many before XDD) almost to 100! lol

_**Preview: **__He shouldn't have gone over. His worse fears were confirmed._

_**Please Review 8D**_


	8. Wavering Feelings

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_Hi guys! I'm back with another update 8DD Sorry this one is so short, but then again, I did kind of spoil you guys with two updates last week XD__

Ahh... I'm starting to think Final Fantasy 13 haters haven't even played the game since a lot of people complain about how the creators/producers took away the towns... HELLO? They are _fugitives_ with the entire population of Cocoon HUNTING. THEM. DOWN. They can't just waltz into a town and buy weapons and all that stuff, they'll get killed! And doing that would be stupid and wouldn't make any sense. PEOPLE ARE RIDICULOUS.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter 8DDD and drop a review C8 they make me all warm and fuzzy (in a non-creepy way;;)

_**Disclaimer: Because I have yet to work at Square Enix, Final Fantasy 13 does not belong to me.**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_I wish to know how are you feeling so please give me a sign, even if it's as little as a smile or as sad as your tears._

_**Chapter eight: Wavering Feelings**_

Two days have passed since Hope made that promise with Serah. He honestly didn't understand how Serah came up with the idea that he, of all people, could make Lightning become more open. How on earth was he supposed to do that? He wasn't a magician, he couldn't make miracles out of thin air, he was just Hope Estheim, an ordinary sixteen teenager with his doubts. Hell, he didn't even know that much about Lightning, she rarely even spoke of herself with him. In fact, he knew nothing about her other than her name, age, and the fact that she had a sister, but that wasn't going to help him at all.

Making his way to the courtyard, Hope pushed the doors open and walked into the sunlight, heading towards Fang and Vanille sitting not too far away at their usual table for lunch. Once he reached them, he plopped his bag next to him and sat beside Vanille.

Vanille was the first to greet him. "Hey, Hope!" he waved back while Fang lifted her hand in a small waving motion. "I thought you said you had to talk to a teacher or something."

Scratching his hand, he replied. "She wasn't there so I thought I'd join you guys."

Fang leaned to the side to get a better look at his face, studying it for a second. Soon her usual smirk made its way to her tan figures. "What's with the long face, kid?"

Hope mustered all the courage he had and glared at the older woman. "I'm not a kid." He said defensively. His sudden change in attitude may have stopped Fang from saying anymore of that kid nonsense for now, but it didn't stop her curiosity.

"Why so worked up?" she asked in a teasing manner.

Turning away, all the times Lightning and the others had called him a kid resurfaced in his mind. What was it that made him a kid in their eyes? Wasn't it clear that he wasn't a kid, but almost their equal? Was it because he was younger than them? He didn't understand. All he understood was that he hated being called a kid. He had to stop it before it got out of hand. If he didn't, they'll probably still be calling him a kid by the time he was thirty!

Hope hadn't answered Fang's question so she thought of another one, one she was sure he'll respond to.

"Does it have something to do with Light?" Though Hope remained silent, Fang could see the shock in his eyes that slowly died down into a shallow look, his hand involuntary changing into a fist, gripping the material of his pants.

Hope felt strange. He didn't know what else to describe the burning feeling he suddenly felt in his chest. It was as if Fang's question was a trigger to the burning and tightness that he felt all of a sudden. It felt nostalgic almost. He thought about it for a second, trying to remember when was the last time he felt something similar to this. Then it hit him.

_Claire._

But unlike the feeling he got whenever he was around or thinking about Claire, there was a burning sensation to it along with his racing heart, something he never experienced before and he wasn't sure if he enjoyed it.

He turned to Fang for a split second, still waiting for his answer, her smirk never leaving her face, then looked away.

"No."

_-xxx-_

It was stupid, really.

Childish almost. And Lightning was never childish.

She sat on her couch with the television on in front of her but it did nothing to distract her from her thoughts.

Ever since her argument with Serah, she had been feeling strange, almost paranoid even. She had kept her distance from everyone, hoping the silence and time to herself would help her figure and sort things out. It wasn't like her to worry so much over something unless it had something to do with Serah but Lightning knew Serah wasn't the reason for it.

"_Will you ever tell him?"_

"_But he's looking for you!"_

"… _he deserves to know the truth…"_

It was Hope.

Knowing that the kid was the reason, she had avoided him, even if it was wrong, even though it went against most of the things she believed in, she still did it, afraid that if she got too close to him he'll remember and realize that she was the Claire from his childhood. As much as she hated the idea of avoiding him and the fact that she was running away, it was the only solution she came up with.

Annoyed, Lightning grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, not wanting to hear the announcer's voice any longer. The second the TV was off, her door bell rang, the ring echoing throughout her quiet apartment room since Serah was still out. Sighing, Lightning got off of the couch and made her way to the door. Once she opened it, she felt annoyance take over her as she stared, no, more like glared, at the messy silver hair in front of her eyes.

He brought his hand up in a small wave, face nervous with a small smile. "H-hey, Light."

She frowned. "What are you doing here, Hope?" she asked, a bit harsher than she intended as he slightly cowered at her tone. The sight of seeing him again was refreshing even though she tried to deny it many times in her head. It almost even looked like he grew a little bit since he was a little taller than she remembered.

He avoided her gaze and brought his hand up to scratch his messy hair.

"I-I, uh, just wanted to see you," Hope could feel a blush coming on but he continued nonetheless. "I haven't seen you in a while."

Though his words were quiet and shaky, Lightning could tell that they were sincere and suddenly felt her annoyance for his presence slowly melt away, much to her dismay.

Hope didn't know why he had an urge to see her or why suddenly seeing her again made him happy. Sure, there was the fact that he hadn't seen her in a week, but there was something else to it, an extra reason he couldn't quite figure out.

"Sorry," she said. "I haven't been feeling well recently and I've been really busy." Lightning knew she wasn't telling Hope the complete truth, purposely leaving out some parts, but it wasn't a lie either.

"Oh…" he nodded with an awkward smile. "Then I hope you get better soon." She nodded and proceeded in closing the door thinking he was done with his visit but he stuck his hand out to stop the door, catching Lightning off-guard.

"W-will I see you tomorrow?" he asked, hoping Lightning wouldn't notice how badly he was blushing or how his hand was slightly shaking. With a tiny ghost of a smile, Lightning reached over and flicked his forehead playfully causing Hope to move back slightly.

"We'll see, kid," Hope looked up for a second to witness her smile before rubbing his forehead. Once again he felt the burning in his chest return, only the sensation was stronger and hotter than before, the throbbing pain in his chest growing.

He knew it.

Lightning only saw him as a kid.

"See you then," she said as she closed the door.

Hope lingered in front of her door a little longer. "Yeah, see you," he whispered, slowly turning around to return to his room.

He shouldn't have gone over, feeling regret taking over him.

His worse fears were confirmed.

He had feelings for Lightning…

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter eight [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Not much to say about this chapter... other then yes, there was a reason behind Lightning's strange behavior C8  
And now... the preview~ _**  
**_

_**Preview: **__"C-Claire, I don't want to go," he sobbed.  
_Next chapter: A look in Lightning and Hope's past~~ 8D

_**Please Review! 8D**_


	9. May

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_Hi guys! I don't know why, but I feel like I haven't updated in a long time... weird.

I hope you guys like this chapter. I'm sorry if it seems a like crappy compared to the last chapters, I didn't really edit this as much as the others ones but I wanted to get this chapter out there XDD and plus I'm really tired for some reason even though it's not that late orz;;

On a side note: this chapter is a bit fluffier than the past chapters for good reasons... (I hope;;) Enjoy! And please drop a review to let me know if you guys are actually enjoying this fanfiction of mine lol;;

_**Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_Looking at the times we spent together, I realized how foolish I was to let you go._

_**Chapter nine: May**_

The digital clock on the side blinked one-fifteen as Lightning finished the last of her many homework assignments. She turned to the clock, shocked that she had spent so long doing it since she usually finished them quick with ease but for some reason, she wasn't feeling herself and her mind was fogged.

_It's just the cold_, she thought to herself but something was telling her that it wasn't her cold that was causing her to act like this.

Pulling herself up of her chair, she slid out of her room and quietly made her way to Serah's bedroom not too far away from her own, slightly opening the door to check up on her. Serah, as she should be, was fast asleep on her bed, her hands gripping onto her pillows. She didn't know what it was, but seeing Serah calmly sleeping on in her room put Lightning at ease. After lingering outside her room for a minute, Lightning closed the door and returned back to her room once she brushed her teeth and washed her face, ready for bed.

Lightning reached over to turn off the lamp on her nightstand but not before glancing over at a red and pink checkered ribbon near it. Suddenly her thoughts went back to earlier today when Hope had made a surprise visit at her door. She had seen how his face saddened after their short conversation and couldn't surpass that feeling of worry she felt shortly after.

Did he figure it out? Did he know that she was Claire?

She shook her head. _No_. There was no possible way he could've figured out. The only person who knew her real name besides her was Serah, unless…

Lightning sighed. She was thinking too much and it was getting late. She turned off the light and soon fell into a peaceful sleep.

_-xxx-_

_Seven years ago…_

The sun shined brightly, a little too bright and warm for the afternoon as she made her way to the nearby park, her pink hair shining in the bright light, not quite ready to go home after staying behind in the library. It was a nice place to go after a hectic day of school. It was a small park with very little things to play with so not many people came by, it was quiet and perfect she thought.

She walked over to the swings, content that there no one else was here, and took a seat in one. She refused to swing back in forth on the thing, she wasn't a child, so she just sat still, kicking her feet out in front of her, moving the swing slightly.

Lifting her head up, she watched the clouds slowly drift across the sky. Once she got bored of it, she sighed and dropped her gaze back down to the ground beneath her feet.

Suddenly a flash of pink appeared besides the girl as she turned to her head to the side and saw that it was a small pink flower with a red and pink checkered ribbon tied messily around the steam being held out to her. She traced the arm back to the person standing behind her with the largest smile she's ever seen.

"Here," he said cheerfully, shoving the flower in her hands. "You come here a lot, don'cha?" he giggled. From his appearance, he looked a lot younger than herself, maybe about nine or so. She had never seen silver hair like his before, or his vivid green eyes and she would be lying if she said he wasn't beautiful.

She nodded at his observation, a little creeped out but then again, he was only a child. "You always look so sad and lonely though. My mom always said that you should give someone something to smile about if they were sad." She stared at the flower in her hands, shocked at how soft the petals felt against her fingers when she went to touch them. "I picked the flower because I thought it matched your hair." He laughed.

'Thanks," she said. "Where are your parents?"

"They're at home. School just ended for me."

She nodded in response. "Do they know where you are?"

"Nope," he replied a little too eagerly.

She sighed, twirling the steam between her fingers. "You should tell them where you are in case they worry about where you are."

The boy jumped, shocked. "Y-you're right!" and with that he ran out of the park, and out of sight. She stared, eyes wide, at the spot he was just in not too long ago.

_What a strange kid…_

_-xxx-_

She sat in the swings as usual, enjoying the quiet day, positive that the kid wasn't going to be back, sure his parents wouldn't allow him to return. It wasn't that she didn't like him, he was just a bit too cheerful for her and because she was never really good with kids, being around them made her feel awkward.

She wasn't expecting for the kid to come back which was why she was shocked to see him suddenly appear in the entrance, running towards her. She frowned as he made his way towards her and told her that he had gotten permission from his mom with the same wide smile as yesterday. She was taken aback by his appearance, if it wasn't for his hair or clothes, she would've mistaken the boy for a girl.

"Hey, hey," he tugged on her shirt while taking the seat on the swing beside her. "What's your name? My name is Hope."

"Claire," was her simple answer.

"That's a pretty name," he complimented and she quietly thanked him. He later went on about how he liked his name because it was chosen by his mom when he was born. The more he went on about his mom, the more she thought of him as a momma's boy, but then again, it was kind of cute that he greatly looked up and admired his mother since most boys his age would look up to the father instead.

"What about your dad?" she asked while Hope moved back and forth on the swing, but then he slowly stopped moving his feet, coming to a slow stop.

"He's busy with work so we don't see him a lot." He said sadly, a great change from his happiness from before, and even though she didn't want to admit it, it kind of worried her.

"Do you miss him?"

Hope shook his head. "Nope."

His frown was replaced with a pained expression when Claire smacked him across the head.

"Ow, Claire, that hurt!" he whined.

"Don't say something like you don't care about your dad!" she said sternly. "He's the only dad you got so—so show him that you care about him and love him. Do it now… before it's too late."

The pain in his head slowly went away since Claire had made sure not to hit him too hard. He had heard how her voice trailed off slightly and could sense something bothering her.

"Um, what about your dad?" he asked, hoping that changing the subject to her dad would cheer her up.

Claire dragged her feet across the dirt, smoothing it out before messing it up again. "I don't know… he died when I was six in a plane crash before I got to know him any better." She sighed. "He was always busy with work since he was in the Guardian Corps."

Her attention was completely focused on the ground below her so she was caught off-guard when she felt thin arms suddenly wrapping around her.

"Hope?"

"Whenever I feel sad, my mom always hugs me and the pain goes away."

There he went again about his mom.

Unable to hold back a chuckle, she laughed and smiled. "Of course." She whispered and soon Hope released her.

"Thanks, I feel better now."

Hope nodded, feeling accomplished. He then motioned Claire over to the grass, saying that he wanted to sit on the grass with her. She agreed and followed him to a patch of green grass and plopped down next to him, running her hand over the soft blades of grass.

"Claire?" she looked over to him, her hand still on the grass. "Can I hold your hand?"

Claire chuckled, surprised at his sudden question. "Why?"

"I just want to." He beamed and she nodded, holding out her hand for him to hold on to. She had to admit, even though she wasn't too fond of him in the beginning, the kid did grow onto her. It just shocked her how fast she was able to warm up to him, someone she barely even knew. But she felt at peace with him, something she hasn't felt since the death of her father. He wasn't noisy or obnoxious as most kids she saw; he was quiet and surprisingly mature for his age, qualities she didn't mind.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Hope turned to face Claire, a curious look crossing his pale features. "Do you still have the flower?" he asked, unable to hold back his smile.

"I threw it away." She deadpanned.

Hope's eyes grew wide, his mouth agape. "What?" he could feel his eyes start to water up and his cheeks burn until he heard a soft chuckle coming from her, her back turned to him slightly shaking, confusing Hope.

Claire faced him with a smile after calming down a bit. "It was joke." She seriously meant it as a light joke but she didn't expect him to almost cry, though the expression on his face was priceless and just too cute.

Hope stared at Claire until her laughing stopped and she became aware of his staring. "What is it?"

He smiled at her. "Your smile is pretty, you should do it more often." He said while laughing and Claire reached over and ruffled his hair playfully.

_-xxx-_

"My family?"

Hope nodded. "Yeah, I already told you about my mom, I want to know more about your family."

Claire leaned back against the tree trunk while Hope waited patiently for her answer. Ever since their first meeting, they had always met up at the park after school ended for Hope and after Claire finished her homework or studying in the library at her school. My spent many hours in the park talking and laughing, it was nice and pleasant. It was the only time Claire allowed herself to relax and have fun. When it got too dark, Claire, being the older and more responsible one, told Hope that it was about time he went home and walked him home to make sure he got back safe then she would start heading home.

"I have a mom and a younger sister."

Hope's eyes widened in astonishment. "You're so lucky, I'm an only child."

She smiled. "Yeah, I guess so, though she can be a handful sometimes, I love her regardless…" he nodded. "That's why I want to join Guardian Corps. when I'm older, so I can protect her and my family."

Hope's eyes lit up. "That's amazing! I'm sure you'll do great," he said with a smile. "Wait, but if you have a sister, why do you come here alone?"

"She hangs out with her friends afterschool."

He nodded. "Then what about you, Claire? Don't you have any friends?" he asked innocently.

She shook her head. "I don't." She said simply. "I'm not very sociable and I'm not good at making friends." In school, she often stayed by herself, not that she minded, she liked the quiet and being alone. She wouldn't be able to handle crazy girls around her chatting endlessly about the latest fashions or the latest gossip because honestly, she could care less about any of that stuff. And plus, it just all seemed so troublesome and would rather safe herself from the headache she would get from hanging around them too long.

She also had a tendency to push the people who tried to approach her away like she had done to him earlier, something she regrets. But unlike everyone else, he came back regardless, refusing to give up.

"Then, can I be your first friend?" he asked sincerely.

Claire smiled. "I thought you already were."

Hope exploded in happiness, lifting his hands in the air. "Yay! Now you're my first friend too! But I guess that's okay because having a few good friends are a lot better than having a bunch you don't trust."

She laughed along with him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer to her. "I'm guessing your mom told you that."

He blushed and slowly nodded his head.

_-xxx-_

Once she closed the school gates behind her, Claire quickly jogged to the park, guilt taking over her for loosing track of time in the library. She moved her feet as quickly as possible, feeling horrible for leaving the kid in the park for so long. She knew that he would always be at the park at around three and now it was already pass four.

Claire turned the corner and ran into the park, eyes searching the entire park for a flash of silver hair. She calmed her heavy breathing and looked around to find Hope.

Was he hiding? Or did she make him wait too long?

No, him suddenly leaving seemed so unlike Hope she thought as she continued searching for him. It was a fairly small park with a couple of swings and a small playground so Claire was completely stuck on where he could have been hiding when she couldn't find him by the time she went around the whole place. Time was ticking away as she was sure that she had walked around the entire park at least twice.

Soon after the fifth time of going around, she had given up searching. Maybe he was tired of waiting for her and left already. Sullen, Claire looked back at the park one last time before heading home.

_-xxx-_

Friday.

Monday.

Tuesday.

It was already Wednesday and there was still no sign of Hope.

She had even made sure to watch the time in the library and always left a little before three to give her enough time to make it to the park by three, but even so, he was never there.

This certainly was unusual, and it made Claire nervous. What if something happened to him? She could always stop by his house and ask.

Sighing, she walked over to a tree stump and sat down on it, crossed her legs and waited. Maybe he was just late. She was always in a rush when searching for him and when she couldn't find him, she just left.

Suddenly, she heard something in the distance. From where she was, she couldn't make out the sound of it too well. Turning around, she saw that she was the only one there once again. Slowly and quietly, she got up and paced around her surroundings, straining her ears to try to follow the noise.

She heard it again and walked closer to the source of the sound, curious on what she was hearing. Passing the small set of swings, she heard it getting louder as she walked closer. She saw there were thick bushes in front of her and she moved them aside to get a better look at what was behind them.

Claire's eyes widened as she stared at the sight in front of her.

That messy silver hair, that small pale frame. It was all too familiar to her.

"H-hope?" she gasped out. "What are you doing there?"

The little boy jumped from her sudden appearance and slowly turned to her, his eyes red and puffy, obviously from crying. "C-claire…" he sobbed, his voice cracking. She reached forward and grabbed hold of his arm and roughly pulled him out from behind the bush. The second he was out, Hope wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, continuing to cry.

"Hope? What happened?" she asked softly, not wanting to startle the child. Nothing made sense. Why was he crying? Did something happen when she was gone? Did he get bullied?

Claire suddenly felt a fury of anger take over her. If that was the case, she had some serious business to take care off.

Frustrated, she yanked him off of her and looked straight into his glassy eyes. "What happened, Hope?" she asked sternly.

"M-mom…" he cried while shaking, his hands still holding onto her uniform. Claire's eyes soften slightly when the feeling of anger left her as she bent down to his level, her hand lightly grasping his shoulder.

"Did something happen to her?" she asked, feeling her heart break at the sight of his tears streaming endlessly down his red cheeks. She reached out and gently wrapped the tears from his face.

Hope moved his hands to his eyes and she pulled her hand away, wiping his tears as he continued. "S-she's g-gone," he chocked out.

Claire froze.

"W-wha…?" For the first time in many years, Claire couldn't form any words, all the words she wanted to say were caught suck in her throat, not wanting to come out. This couldn't be happening. Sure, it had happened to her and her sister when their father died, but for it to happen to Hope who did nothing but give his endless love and affection to his mom was unnerving, heartbreaking, and just plain unfair.

He was way too young. He didn't deserve this.

And also for the first time, she felt like a complete idiot, her mouth kept opening but no words would come out, eyes wide as she stared in horror, hands slightly shaking as they continued to lie on his small shoulders.

Suddenly, after standing in front of Hope doing nothing, she remembered something.

"Hope," she shook his shoulders a bit so he would look at her and not the ground. "W-what about your dad?"

For some reason, that question made the little boy cry even harder as Claire started to feel guilt bubble inside her.

"H-he said that we-we're moving back to P-palumpolum." He sobbed.

Palumpolum. Hope had mention that once to Claire that unlike her, a Bodhum native, he was born in Palumpolum but moved with his parents not long after, his mom hoping that moving to the beach-side would result in more time for family bonding. But what had been constantly happening with his dad and sudden meetings, that never happened.

"C-Claire, I don't want to go," the little boy cried into her stomach, his shaking hands gripping on her uniform tightly. She bit her lip, feeling her own tears forming.

_Hope…_

She couldn't stand looking at him so upset, _so broken_, like he was now. He was usually a cheerful kid, all smiles.

But how could one smile at the death of their own mother?

She quickly wiped away her tears with her fingers. Maybe if she was strong, he would be too…

"I don't want to be leave you," With that said, she could feel more of her tears threatening to spill, a feeling in her chest tightening.

Had she really made such an impression on him? She had tried so hard to push him away in the beginning.

"Silly…" she whispered, her own voice slightly shaking, something that frightened her. She lightly patted his silver head like she always would. And every time she did, he would always give her his trademark toothy smile. He looked up at her, eyes all swollen and red. "I'll always be with you." She tried to smile, she really did, but it was hard.

But she did it for him.

He had said that he liked it when she smiled.

She pulled him off her for a second, firm hands on both his shoulders. "Here, close your eyes for a second." She had to be strong, she reminded herself, not for her— _but for him_.

Hope did as he was told and waited, suddenly feeling her arms loosely around him for a split second. He then felt something cool fall against his skin.

"Okay, you can open them now."

He looked at her and wondered what she had done that made her want him to close his eyes. He then noticed the necklace she always wore was gone. Looking down, he saw it hanging from his neck.

"Claire… w-why?"

Though it was a little long for him, she thought it looked nice. She leaned forward and brushed his bangs out of the way, lightly pressing a kiss to his forehead. He could feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. She always tended to baby him, not that he really minded. She was like the sister he never had.

"So that I'll always be with you even when we're apart."

_-xxx-_

_Little did I know, with Hope gone from my life, there was nothing to look forward to, nothing to really smile about._

_I tried my best to be happy to keep Serah and my mom from worrying. _

_But one year later, my sister and I suddenly became orphans and everything just went down hill from there…_

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter nine [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n:**_ ahh... young!Lightning was refreshing to write, I don't know, this is how I think of her if she was a teen XDD and I hope Hope acts his age (I'm not that good at writing kids orz;;)

And because I'm lazy, I basically copied and pasted the beginning of chapter one into the end of the chapter (lol;;;) but I guess it makes sense now?

On another side note: Lightning and Hope spent at least a month or two together. And every time I would go to type 'Claire' I'll type 'Lightning' by accident lol /fail

And here's some more foreshadowing for you guys 8DD_  
_

_**Preview: **__"You're apologizing? That's not like you, Farron." He said with a small smirk. _

_**I will love you to death if you review 8DDD**_

[Last Edited: 9/18/10]_**  
**_


	10. The Dark Side of the Light

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: ** _YOU GUYS ARE SO AMAZING. 21 reviews! That's a new record XDDD GAH, I'M STILL SO HAPPY. XDD

I don't know why, but this chapter was so hard to type (even though I have the entire plot written out XDD) and I had some minor writer's block, but it's out C8 and sorry in advance for any grammer mistakes and typos XDD;; I don't have a beta so I edit the chapters myself and sometimes there are some grammar mistakes. If you find one, please tell me and I'll fix it C8

On another note, when the story is talking about the past, the characters may be a little OOC but please keep in mind that because it was in the past, they were younger so they are going to be a little immature/different.

Now, on ANOTHER note; I'm aware of how popular Hope/Lightning is in Japan (since there's so many cute fanarts on pixiv XDD) but I never knew that they are popular here too! I mean, compared to other pairings, they have the most fanfictions XDDDDD /geeking out

Now~ on with the story C8

_**Disclaimer: Too bad I don't own Final Fantasy 13…**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**Chapter ten: The Dark Side of the Light**_

A ray of sunlight shined through the pale curtains, reaching the nearby bed, lighting up the whole room much to Lightning's dismay who wanted to get more sleep. But she couldn't find a way to escape the morning light and once she was up, she was up.

She cracked her eyes opened and let out a small yawn. For some reason, she found it a little difficult to fully open her eyes. She wiped her hands over them for a quick second, rubbing some crust off them, something she didn't expect to find over her eyes.

Rubbing her eyes and drying her cheeks, she sighed. It was unusual for her to be dreaming about such a thing and about him or anything of the past since it wasn't like her to dwell too much on it. She shook her head but that didn't do anything but send throbbing pains to her head.

Lightning quickly rose from her bed, only to find herself falling back down from a sudden head-splitting headache.

"Tch." Great, now her cold was worse.

After a couple more tries and a lot of struggling, Lightning successfully got out of her bed, only to stumble clumsily into her shower, the feeling of dizziness quickly making its way to her stuffy head as she turned on the water.

_-xxx-_

Claire was never the same after the death of her mother.

She had gotten sick one day and she was in bed for a little over a week. She soon got over it and she was back to her regular self, but it wasn't before long when the cold came back and worse than before. Before the doctors had the time to properly treat her, it was too late.

Now all the only family Claire had left was her sister Serah.

It was because of that, and the fear of being alone, that she made a promise to her parents in front of their graves. She vowed that she wouldn't let any harm go Serah's way, that she would watch over and care for her like she was her own daughter so they didn't have to worry.

Serah took the death the hardest. She spent most of her nights crying rather than sleeping causing Claire to stay up with her to keep her company and calm. She would hold Serah in her arms, slowly, gently, rocking her back and forth until her tears stopped and she fell into a quiet sleep, curling up against her older sister. Claire would soon join in her in a peaceful sleep, never letting go of her.

They were all they had left so they had to cherish each other.

Though Serah took the death the hardest, Claire was the one who changed the most out of it.

Suddenly being left in charge of everything, including the family fortune their parents had left with them, Claire threw away the child inside of her and forced herself to grow up and be an adult.

With this goal in mind and the need to mature, she grew cold and distant. Her already bad temper worsened and she completely shut people out of her life (with the exception of Serah). Not only that, but the stress of taking care of Serah and doing well in school took a toll on her and she released all her frustration and anger out on the people around her. It didn't take much to anger Claire, and once someone did, they wouldn't be back to do it again, to busy lying on the ground in pain once she was done.

She wasn't proud of who she had become, someone no different from a monster, but she couldn't change it. It had become too late to go back to how she was before, before Hope had left her, before her family fell apart. No matter how much to she wanted to go back to how her old life, she couldn't change the deaths of Hope's mother or her own.

Stepping to the side, Claire glanced at the fallen man besides her, bruises here and there, a broken bone, it wasn't enough to kill him, but still…

She turned away in shame and looked at her also beaten hands. She had to admit, his face was harder than she expected. In the silent alley, she let out a broken, humorless chuckle.

"Would you be disappointed in the person I've become, Hope?"

_-xxx-_

Claire walked through the hallway of her school and quietly entered her classroom. Though she could hear how noisy it was before she walked it, she saw how silent everyone was and how the endless chatter died down once she stepped foot into the classroom.

Her frown deepened as she made her way to her seat, uncomfortable with all the stares directed towards her.

Many people avoided her because of the things they heard about her and because of the fear they felt for her.

"So good to see you again, Farron."

Once his low voice reached Claire's ears, she tensed. Coming up with the nastiest glare she could make, she turned to him, her face twisted in anger. "Shut it, Raines."

He laughed, clearly amused with her attitude, fueling her anger even more.

If there was anyone Claire hated with all her heart, with every ounce of her being, it was the man who happened to sit next to her; Cid Raines. He was a combination of all the traits she hated; popular and well-liked by everyone, smug, and he acted like he couldn't care less about the many friends he had. And for some reason, he was so bent on befriending her, using that sick friendly tone with her whenever he talked to her. Couldn't he get the message that she had no desire to become friends with him?

_Probably just wants to add to his list of growing friends_, she thought with distaste, her entire body turned away from him. She also hated the so-called 'nickname' he gave her, "Farron", something he insisted on calling her after she called him "Raines" on one occasion. Even though it was only her last name, she disliked the fact how he had a nickname to call her no one else had, for she wanted absolutely no connections with the man.

The rest of the background talking ceased when the teacher walked in the classroom. Claire felt her mood lift slightly, happy that she wouldn't be hearing from Cid for the rest of the day since this was the last class they were in together. After having most of the same classes as him, she was getting sick of seeing him everywhere.

The calm feeling Claire felt was suddenly crushed when the teacher announced that they were being given group projects, and even more when she was given her partner.

"Work hard, you two," he said, placing a slip of paper with their topic on her desk.

Cid leaned over to look at their topic.

"So we're partners, huh?"

"You have got to be _shitting _me," she snarled, glaring daggers into the paper.

_-xxx-_

"Hey, Farron, where are you going?"

Claire refused to stop walking, not even to stop to tell him to stop calling her that. She walked even faster to get away from him who was following her persistently.

"The library's the other way." He said.

Turning slightly, she spoke. "I'm not working with you. I'm fine with doing the whole thing myself."

There was no way she was letting him think that she needed other's help on a project she could easily do herself or that she was giving into his help like some helpless person!

Cid shook his head. "I don't think you heard Nomura-sensei, we have to write a five page essay on the history of the Maker _and _come up with a visual and presentation to show to the class. You can't possibly do that by yourself."

With a low "hmph", Claire turned on her heel and walked away.

_-xxx-_

Just when Claire thought her day couldn't have gotten any worse, it did.

She had overslept due to her forgetting to set an alarm for school, and Serah had woken her up right before she left the house only because she had thought she was already up since it was unlike her to sleep in. This caused Claire to rush around the apartment in a hurry to get ready and get to class which was not how she wanted to start out her day since she didn't like the being of being in a rush.

With that, she barely made it to class on time, only because of her newfound strength and energy she gained over the years, but that meant that she made it to class all sweaty and tired, earning many strange looks from her classmates, including Cid.

And not only that, but for some reason, despite what she had told him the other day, Cid still expected her to work with him on the project which annoyed her all day until school ended.

Then _this_ happened.

"You brat, you tripped me didn't you?"

Claire let out an annoyed sigh. She glanced over at the rough looking man and his friends behind him with a bored look. He thought he looked so tough but in reality, he wasn't. _I could probably take him on…_

"You tripped yourself," _moron_, she added in her head.

The man jumped back at her daring response. How dare she talk back to him in that tone! Glaring at the pink-haired student, he reached and grabbed the collar of her shirt, barely lifting her up because of her height, and brought her close to his face.

"What did you say, _bitch_?" he sneered, making sure to spit on her. Claire twisted her face in disgust once she felt something wet hit her face. She could smell the alcohol in his breath. Who in their right minds would drink in the day time? Obviously this guy was a moron. Why did she have to get into this mess?

Claire placed her small hands over the man's large ones and grabbed them, her strength greater than his, and twisted his hand back with great force, causing him to yank his hand away and release her.

"Boss!" one of them cried, all of them rushing to their leader's side to inspect his hand.

Seeing that they were all occupied with the guy's hand, Claire took her chance and walked away, hoping to go unnoticed, but that didn't seem to work out since she heard someone running towards her.

"You won't be getting away so easily!" he slurred. Acting quickly, she turned around and swung her leg out and kicked his face with the back side of her heel, causing them to fall back onto the ground with a loud _thud_. The kick was so quick, everyone missed it, only realizing it once of their own was attacked when he fell.

The boss turned an angry eye to his gang. "What are you idiots waiting for? Get her!" he sneered. Everyone jumped at his harsh tone and ran towards her. Claire quickly counted eleven people coming towards her and frowned. One was in front of them all and came towards her full speed. _Perfect_. Using very little effort, she moved aside and the shock of her suddenly moving caused him to trip on his feet and send him flying past her.

More were ganging up on her as another ran towards her and she landed a clean punch in his stomach and he fell with a pained look. Turning a bit, she grabbed the hair on a nearby member and threw him in the direction of other people, causing him to crash into them, taking care of five more members.

"You're open!"

Claire turned around to see the same person who grabbed her earlier coming towards her, ready to knock her out and because of the timing, she was in a position where she couldn't do anything but stare as he got ready to punch her.

She waited for the punch, closing her eyes involuntarily. But when nothing happened, she waited a while before cracking an eye open, then the other. What shocked her wasn't the fact that the guy had his fist caught by someone else, but the person who was standing in front of her, holding him back for her. His dark hair shined in the sun as if it was mocking her.

"R-raines? What the hell are you doing here?" she asked harshly. He turned his face slightly to get a look at her before pushing the guy back with a punch.

Another came for him and Cid effortlessly kicked him aside.

"Is this what you do for fun, Farron?"

"Get out of here! I don't need your help!"

Cid didn't listen and punched something behind Claire, shocking her. She turned and saw someone fall limply behind her, obviously trying to sneak up on her but was noticed.

She turned to him disbelieving. "What was that about not needing help?"

Without a word, she pulled him away and landed an upwards punch towards the man's jaw, not enough to completely knock him out, but enough to keep him from getting back off of the ground.

"I don't need it," she replied smoothly, though it was a little strained since he did help her earlier but she wasn't going to give into his kindness.

With that said she turned to walk away but stopped when she realized something. Originally, there were a total of eleven people… and they had only got rid of ten. If that was the case, where was the other one?

"Claire, in front of you!" Cid shouted and she lifted her head up to see a man holding out a knife dangerous close to her, ready to stab her. With a small "tch", she raised her leg, ready to kick him away before Cid appeared behind him and pulled him away from her, throwing him in the air causing him to drop his knife and fall back on the ground, face first.

She stared in awe. What was wrong with her today? Usually she was so aware of her surroundings and almost always caught people sneaking up on her. But for some reason she wasn't acting like herself today.

"You okay?" she flinched at his voice and slowly lifting her head to meet his dark eyes. She nodded with a weak "yes". He smiled slightly and patted her shoulder, heading towards the other direction before she stopped him.

"Than—," she paused and quickly changed her words. "You're not bad, Raines…" She said, keeping her back to him. "And sorry… about before," she added quietly, half of her hoping he wouldn't hear her, uncomfortable with apologizing to someone she disliked in the beginning, the other half hoping he did.

"You're apologizing? That's not like you, Farron." He said with a small smirk.

Slowly, she lifted her head. "Claire." Cid turned to her, unsure if he had heard right. She faced him, but not fully, and repeated her words. "Claire is fine." She said in almost a whisper.

He let out a small laugh. "Only if you call me Cid."

This time she turned to face him. "Don't push it."

_-xxx-_

Turning off the water, Lightning let out an irritated sigh and punched the bathroom walls. Why? Why was she suddenly thinking of the past? Didn't she tell herself that she would move on and forget about what had happened? And yet, here she was, drowning in herself in her past.

Her headache hadn't gone away at all, in fact, it felt worse as Lightning lazily threw on new clothes after drying herself. She left her room and dragged herself to her kitchen and somehow made it to the refrigerator. Soon, she found herself holding a bottle of alcohol, probably from the last visit Snow made. She knew it was a bad idea to be drinking when she was feeling like crap, but she couldn't think of another solution. Besides, she was never a heavy drinker so she would only have a glass or two.

Lightning poured herself a glass, almost overfilling it with the beverage, and took a sip and almost like magic, she felt the pain slowly melt away.

_-xxx-_

Hope walked the streets of Bodhum, taking in the view. For the first time since the school year started, he was finally free from homework for the weekend so he decided to spend the day walking around town and maybe do a little sightseeing. Though many things were still the same since he moved, there was also many new buildings and stores he had never seen before. It seemed that no matter where he was in the town, he could always see the clear blue ocean in the background, or the beach. Though Hope knew they couldn't, he kind of wished his father and mother were here with him to marvel at the beautiful sight of Bodhum's beaches once again, but he was all too aware of the fact that his father was busy with his work and that his mom was not part of this world anymore.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. Reaching to grab it, he flipped it opened and spoke into it. "Hello?"

"_Hope! How are you?"_

He immediately recognized the cheerful voice on the other end as Serah, though he couldn't help but think that she almost sounded like Lightning over the phone… if she was ever to talk like that.

"I'm good, Serah, how about you?" he laughed.

"_Yes, I'm good, um, can I ask where you are now?"_

Hope nodded. "I'm outside taking a walk, why? Do you need something?"

He heard her girly chuckle on the other end. _"Kinda, you see, Lightning isn't picking up, probably showering or something, and I'm at school studying, and I was planning on making a strawberry cake when I get back and I just remembered that the sale on fresh strawberries ends _today_!"_ she cried into the phone. Hope couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her worry. It was so like her to worry about groceries since she was the one who usually did all the shopping according to what she had told him. And thinking back to their previous conversations, she had told him how hard it was to get strawberries since now their price has suddenly gone up to a ridiculous price.

"I'm guessing you need me to get them for you?"

"_Yes, if it's not too much trouble. I'll pay you the next time I see you," _she said.

"It's not a trouble, I'll give them to Light if I see her."

Serah sighed in relief. _"Thanks so much, Hope!"_

"You're welcome, Serah." After the two exchanged their "good-byes" Hope hung up and headed towards the local grocery to pick up Serah's strawberries.

_-xxx-_

Claire stared at the blinking numbers on the thermometer with a sigh and turned back to Serah whose face was as red as a tomato, her bangs tied back with a wet towel pressed against her burning forehead.

"Just as I suspected, you have a high fever, Serah."

She wiggled slightly in her blankets from hearing the news, wearing a childish frown.

Waving the thermometer in the air, Claire turned to Serah with a stern look. "This is what happens when you don't listen to me and bring a jacket with you when it's cold."

Serah pouted even more, sincerely upset that she didn't listen to her older sister. "I'm sorry, Claire." She said with a cough.

Claire turned to her and sighed once more, her heart breaking at the sight of her bed-ridden sister. "Okay, okay, I get it. Just get some rest, hm?" Serah nodded and her eye lids slowly start to droop as she fell into a light sleep until Claire's phone woke her up.

"What is it?" she asked harshly into the phone, angry at the fact that this idiot who called her just woke Serah up from her much needed sleep.

"_Claire, where are you?"_

Recognizing the voice as Cid's didn't change her mood, but only this time she was curious on why he decided to call her now. "Why do you need to know?"

"_Didn't we agree to meet at the library to finish up the project?"_

Claire mentally slapped herself. She had completely forgotten all about it. How could she allow herself to forget?

"Crap," she mumbled quietly but both Serah and Cid picked up on it. She remained silent and quietly glanced over to Serah who was looking at her with worried eyes.

"_Something wrong?"_

She turned to the clock before responding. "My sister is sick but I'll be there in about ten minutes so—"

"_Never mind, I'll take care of it, you stay home."_

Claire froze, not sure if she heard right. "Are you stupid? I can make it, just give me a few minutes." She wasn't going to allow herself be 'that person' in the group who did none of the work but still got credit for it. Sure, she had done some minor research before, but there was still a lot to be done and the thing was due tomorrow.

"_And leave your sister behind?"_ She turned to Serah who was trying to go back to sleep, almost forgetting her current condition. _"Don't worry about it, just take care of your sister, I'll handle the rest."_ He said when Claire didn't say anything back.

There was a moment of silence between the two before Claire spoke up again. "Just don't screw up."

Cid let out a muffled chuckle. _"Got it," _and hung up.

"Did something happen?" Claire flinched slightly when she heard Serah's quiet voice but immediately calmed down and sat by her side.

"It's nothing, Serah, go back to sleep," she told her softly, patting her hair gently before leaving her room and closing the door.

_-xxx-_

"So what did we get?"

Cid turned to her and confidently showed her their paper. Her eyes slightly widened.

"An 'A-'?" Cid nodded and put the paper in his bag. Surprisingly, for one person, he did rather well. Though she wrote half of the essay, Cid made a flawless powerpoint and a visual for the class. It surprised Claire even more that he got it done all in one night alone.

"Hey, thanks," she said weakly, but was sure he heard her.

He turned around. "What's this?" he asked with a playful smirk. "It's not like you to thank me." With that said, he walked away and out of her sight.

Claire looked at the floor, confused. He was right, _it's not like me, then why?_

But it wasn't before long that she had realized why she allowed herself to give in to him.

It was because she had feelings for him.

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter ten [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_So... the secret is revealed, the "him" mentioned before is Cid Raines XDD Originally, it was going to be an OC but then I thought against it because I myself don't really like OC's so I used Raines XDD I don't know but for some reason I like to think that Cid wants Lightning but can't have her... kind of like a one-sided thing on his side XDD and he was the only person I could think of XDD

He was so hard to write though DDD8 since he doesn't appear often in the game, I didn't really know how to portray him. I EVEN WENT AS FAR AS READING A COUPLE OF LIGHTNING/CID FANFICS. It was painful and I don't even know if it worked at all D8 And I hope they weren't too OOC.

_**Please Read: **_With school coming up and stuff, I may not be able to keep my weekly updates. And not only do I have school, but I also have fencing and captain's practice coming up so I'll be super busy from the end of fall to winter (SORRY. D8) and don't forget about tests. I will try my best to update constantly but if you guys don't see an update please understand that school comes first for me. But thanks for your support so far and I hope you guys will continue to support me and this fanfiction C8

And now, because every preview deserves to be a tease~ C8

_**Preview: **__"You lied to me!" _

_**All reviews put a smile on my face C8**_

[Last edited: 9/18/10]_**  
**_


	11. Confession

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_So I've decided to post one more chapter before school starts for me C8

But first, I would like to make a note of something:

Although I am open to constructive criticism, I find it rather immature and incredibly rude that someone would waste their time typing up a rather nasty and lengthy review "as a joke". (You know who you are.) I read over my chapters before posting them and although I understand that there are some minor mistakes due to me not reading close enough it would be more helpful to point out the faults and mistakes in the chapter with evidence to back it up instead of just saying "it sucks" and calling me stupid. On that note, I respect people's opinions on their preferred pairings, but it doesn't make me happy if others don't, like the comment on Hope/Light from YouTube. Again, I am opened to constructive criticism, but some little "jokes" that just seem to be bashing on my story rather than trying to help me with it won't get anywhere.

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII and this will also apply to later chapters (because it's getting annoying to type it every chapter XD and I don't like the thought of having to type this 30 times D8)**_

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_Even in the silent night, your cries still haunt me._

_**Chapter eleven: Confession**_

After Cid saved her from possibly ending up in a hospital and failing an important project, Claire has been feeling strange, nothing like her usual self.

She couldn't describe the feeling. Every time she was around him, she felt strangely nervous and a little happy. She didn't know if she liked it or not. And quite honestly, it scared her since she never experienced anything like this before.

"It doesn't look like you're sick…" Serah's soft voice echoed the room as she pressed her hand against her sister's forehead.

Claire shook her hand away. "I'm sick, Serah, I'm sure of it." she spat while Serah stared at her, not believing her story but knowing how stubborn her sister could be, she decided to drop it. Claire was a logical person who allowed no nonsense; she probably had her reasons for faking sick and her reasons for not telling her why.

Serah got up off the floor. "Okay then… maybe all you need is a quick rest," she smiled sweetly as Claire fell back against her bed, her head sinking into her pillow as Serah closed her door.

Lying in her bed, Claire stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to sort her thoughts. Nothing was making sense. She was almost positive she was sick with her unusual fast heart beat, her sudden nervousness, and how she couldn't keep her composure around him. But her regular body temperature and no signs of the usual cold symptoms proved otherwise.

_Tch, maybe he got me sick._ But that thought didn't seem to be the answer. She felt that there was something more to it, something deeper.

She frowned.

_Do I… _like _him?_ She tried thinking with distaste.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, the thought seemed to connect with everything she has been feeling up to this point and soon, it didn't seem to be an impossible thought, no matter how much it disturbed her. She was never the one to fall mindlessly in love with someone she recently met. In fact, she never had a crush on anyone before up to this point. Not even on celebrities that were on TV or movies like Serah or her classmates.

Claire grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it. She didn't want this. She didn't want to have a crush on Cid. It felt… wrong. But at the same time, it didn't. Claire wished with all of her heart that it was a phase and that her teenage hormones were all messed and soon, before she'll know it, it would be gone.

Though it didn't happen suddenly, she slowly started to feel it. Soon, a year has passed her feelings for him felt stronger and annoying. They showed no signs of leaving anytime soon, much to Claire's dismay.

She sighed. "I'm losing my mind…"

_-xxx-_

Although she admitted it to herself that she was attracted to Cid and liked him, there was no way she was going to admit it to anyone else, not even to Serah and especially not Cid. It was plain embarrassing to like someone she hated in the beginning, and to her, she felt like she lost a battle by giving in to him.

Trying to read her book, she felt her focus wavering from subject to subject. When her focus was back, she tried to continue her book but soon found herself reading the same line over and over again. It wasn't before long that Claire gave up trying to read. She threw her book to the side of the couch and looked up to the clock, shocked to see that it was already nearing four.

"Where's Serah?" she asked herself quietly.

It wasn't unusual for Claire to be home before Serah. But now that they were now both in high school it was strange not to be home at the same time. But here she was, waiting for Serah to come home almost two hours after school ended.

Maybe she was out with her friends? Even so, she would usually get a call from her saying she'll be home later. This was when Claire started to worry slightly.

Suddenly, the door besides her opened and Serah appeared, a little more cheerful than usual.

"Where have you been?" Claire asked sternly. She expected Serah's mood to drop once she heard her voice but instead Serah ran over to her and hugged her tightly, catching her off guard. "Serah? What are you—?"

Serah was practically bouncing up and down, shaking Claire slightly. "You won't believe what just happened!" she squealed. It was nothing out of the blue for Serah to be her cheerful self, but she almost never saw her this excited and happy. She was acting like a little kid all over again.

Serah didn't allow Claire to guess or speak. "Cid Raines asked me out!"

It was then that Claire felt her world crashing down on her full force without mercy.

"Huh?"

She finally calmed down and broke the hug, looking straight into Claire's confused eyes. "I bet you know him since a lot of people do. I think he's in your grade too. We've been hanging out a lot recently and he just told me he liked me!" Claire stared as Serah continued going on and on about Cid with a wide smile. It has been a while since she had seen her smile like that. "So, can I go out with him, please?" she begged, clasping her hands together.

Claire didn't know what to say. Deep down, she didn't want her sister going out with him. She wanted to tell her what a horrible person he was and fill her head with lies about him, but she knew it was wrong to do that and childish. Since their mom left them, Serah always had a strain smile on after noticing how much Claire worried over her, despite the sadness she felt inside. Finally, she found a reason to smile, a real reason, and she found a source of happiness too, something she knew she could never provide, no matter how much she wanted to.

And besides, didn't she promise herself and her late parents that she would always put Serah's happiness before her own?

Meeting with Serah's pleading eyes, she slowly nodded. "Go ahead." Serah's eyes immediately lit up as she grabbed her sister in another tight hug. Claire half-heartily returned the hug.

And it was at that moment when Claire gave up her feelings for Cid.

_-xxx-_

It was awkward to be around Cid now that her sister and him were together, feeling that there was no room for her and that she would only get in the way. So Claire avoided him constantly but even that was hard when he was in most of her classes and all she thought about was him and Serah. Even when she wasn't in class, she still saw him walking hand-in-hand with Serah in the hallways.

Cid felt something off with Claire after she wouldn't respond to him or even look his way when he greeted her. And with Claire being Claire, she didn't give him any hints on what was bothering her.

Truthfully, she was mad, but who she was angry at; herself, Serah or Cid, she was unsure of. All she was sure of was the feeling of frustration she felt whenever she saw them, threatening to consume her at any minute.

The bell rang for the end of school as students flooded out of their classrooms and on their way to their dorms. Claire, who was behind Cid, pulled him by the collar and dragged him out to the far side where they wouldn't be interrupted by passing students. Cid, who was caught off guard by her sudden aggression, had nowhere to go but to where she was bringing him.

"Hey, Farron, what's up with you?" he tried asking but she didn't reply or even look back at him.

She soon released him as he stared at her. "What the hell was that for?"

"Listen closely, Raines," Claire said dangerously, reaching up and grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking him down close to her face. "If you cause Serah pain or even make her shed a single tear, I will make sure you will not be able to lay a single hand on her again."

Cid listened to process her words. Instead of cowering in fear, he had a look of determination clear on his face and looked at her straight in the eye.

"Claire, I promise you I won't hurt her. I'll protect her and keep her happy."

She stared into his dark eyes, searching to for a trace of unfaithfulness or lie, making sure that neither her nor Serah would be betrayed by him. His face held truth in them and when Claire couldn't find anything to not trust him, there was nothing for her to do but believe his words. With a slight nod, she threw him back against the wall, walking away while he continued to stare at her retreating figure.

_-xxx-_

"You'll be home by nine, right?"

Serah looked up from tying her boots. "Yeah, don't you worry about a thing!" she said with a smile as she finished tying her shoes, ready to go out with Cid. Claire simply nodded.

Cid soon appeared by her door and the two left together, leaving Claire all by herself again.

Ever since Serah has been with Cid, Claire has been feeling slightly lonely. Though Serah didn't focus all her attention on the man, she still felt solitude whenever they went out together and she was stuck in their apartment all by herself. Though she had things to do, it felt strange not having the company of her sister by her side.

Taking a seat on the couch, Claire reached over and grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. Though she disliked watching TV since there was nothing on that was worth watching, there was nothing else for her to do. She just stared blankly at the TV, letting her mind wonder with the TV talking in the background.

_-xxx-_

A slight rumble of thunder woke Claire as she opened her eyes, meeting the bright screen of the TV. She was shocked to find herself asleep since she didn't have any memory of it. She grabbed the remote to turn the TV off and looked at the clock nearby. It was only eight but she could hear the soft periodic drumming of the rain against the windows.

She walked into her room to get her phone, ready to call Serah. Even though it was still early, she didn't like the idea of Serah being out too long when it was about to pour.

Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate in her hand as she looked at the caller-id, shocked to see Serah's name appear on the screen. What could she possibly need her for at this time?

"Serah?"

"_C-claire…?"_ She choked out. Claire could hear something off with her voice, the unevenness and the quietness of it. She had heard this many times when they were younger and when their mother just passed.

Serah had been crying.

"Serah? Where are you?" she snapped. As she waited for Serah to responded, she had an idea of what was going on but the majority of her was wishing that she was wrong. _He couldn't have… could he?_

"_I'm near the Masashi Bookstore. Please hurry, Cid he—"_

Claire didn't allow Serah to finish. Once she heard his name, she didn't need to hear anymore. Running to the living room, she quickly put on her shoes and ran out the door, slamming it behind her and quickly ran out of the lobby to the bookstore. The closer she was to where Serah was, the anger and frustration inside her started to increase rapidly, slowly taking over her.

_-xxx-_

It wasn't before long when Claire found Serah since she used all her energy to get there. She was sweating but she couldn't really tell with the rain falling heavily on them.

Claire started to walk towards them and Serah turned to her, happy to see her but her tears were still evident. Even in the dark, she could see that Serah's clothes were dirtied, along with a small stain of blood. She had bright red marks on her arm, obviously from someone grabbing her tightly while she tried to pull away. Looking at her poor sister only fueled the growing wrath she felt inside.

"You're here! But Cid already—"

Looking straight at Cid besides her, she passed Serah, confusing her.

"You lied to me!" she shouted and punched him with such force that he fell back against the hard wet ground, even with his large frame compared to hers.

"Claire? What are you doing?"

Slowly, Cid got back up, grabbing onto the wall besides him to help him up, a bruise forming in the corner of his lip, his back aching from the sudden impact to the ground. Once he was up, Claire proceeded in punching him again and he dropped back down to the ground. Serah ran over to her sister, trying to calm her down and pull her away, but Claire just pushed her away and continued to beat Cid in front of her.

For some reason, he refused to fight back, only angering Claire even more. Why didn't he? His arms were still in perfectly good shape and he had the strength to fight back from what she saw when he helped her out a year ago. For the first time, she couldn't control her anger. She could care less if Serah was behind her crying, trying to stop her; the only thing that seemed to satisfy her frustration was letting it all out on Cid. She thought that if she kept beating at him, eventually he'll get tired of taking it and fight back, but that never happened, no matter how hard she punched. All he did was just stare at her with sad eyes. That look he gave her made her feel guilty with what she was doing, but her rage easily surpassed that guilt.

_How could he?_

_How could he?_

How could he promise such a thing, and then break it so easily? The bastard.

"I trusted you!"

Serah wrapped her arms around her, trying to pull her away. "Claire, please stop!" she tried escaping Serah's gasp but she wouldn't and refused to let go. She didn't want her to hurt him anymore. She knew she didn't have the courage or the strength to go up against Claire in a fight so this was sadly the most she could do.

Soon three Guardian Corps. soldiers arrived, one of them stood out from the rest with his two red stripes glowing on his pauldron instead of yellow. One pulled Serah away from Claire as the other separated her from Cid. An ambulance was soon called over and Claire was directed to the Guardian Corps.' vehicle as Serah chased after her.

One of the soldiers felt a tug on his uniform as he turned to meet Serah's worried eyes. "W-where are you taking her?" Serah turned to Claire who refused to look at her.

"We're just taking her to the nearby station, you should probably stay behind with that boy to get your injuries looked at."

Serah glanced at the redness on her arms and the stains on her clothes and back to the soldiers with disbelief as they were shooting accusing glances at Claire. "Y-you think she did this to me?" The two men looked at each other then back at Serah. "She didn't! She didn't even touch me!"

"Yeah, well, we can't say the same about the other guy." With that said, Claire walked into their car as Serah stared at the scene in horror as a medic stood behind her and walked her to where all the other medics were. She tried to struggle free, saying that she needed to be with her sister, but the people refused to let her go. Having seen enough of Serah's crying face, Claire turned her face as the car drove away.

_-xxx-_

Claire sat quietly in the room with an officer sitting across from her, keeping an eye on her incase she were to pull something or try to escape.

Turning to the clock that hung on the wall opposite from her, she saw that it was nearing eleven and she was still stuck in the station. She didn't like it. With the stare the officer was giving her, she felt like an actual wanted criminal, though she felt more like a monster after what she'd done.

Her stare dropped to her hands as she examined them silently. Her knuckles were all beaten up and slightly bruised, light hues of purple mixed with green shown. She could feel a throbbing pain throughout both her hands. She tried closing and opening her hands, but stopped after doing it once, the pain hindering her to continue. With how her hands looked, she could only imagine what she'd done to Cid's face since it was too dark to really see anything.

To be honest, the entire time she was hurting Cid, she didn't feel like herself. It was like she was an entirely different person, consumed with hate and driven by anger. And it scared her.

She felt tears forming but she knew she didn't deserve to cry.

To her surprise, the door nearby slammed open and outside revealed a very worried and tired Serah. Claire's eyes watched her as she walked to the officer and talked to him. Once she handed him a certain amount of money, he looked over to her and nodded. Serah then ran over to her to pick her off the chair and Claire got a better look at her sister's face. It was worse than what she'd remembered seeing in the dark before she was taken away. Serah's usual pretty and cheerful face had whitened to a paler color, her clear blue eyes were all red and the skin around them was all puffy and swollen. Just how much did she cry? Claire could also see the faint worry lines over her face. She almost looked like a stranger to her.

Before she knew it, Serah had already brought her outside, the heavy rain pouring on them, and called a taxi.

"When we were heading home, Cid and I got into some trouble…" Serah started minutes into the drive back home. Claire lifted her head slightly and glanced over, Serah's hands clasped together tightly as she continued to stare at them. "There were some really scary guys who were bothering me and Cid tried to stop them," pausing for a bit, she continued. "But I was still worried and called you for help."

Claire replayed the short conversation she had with Serah before she ran out of the apartment.

"_C-Claire? I'm near the Masashi Bookstore. Please hurry, Cid he—"_

"But before you got there, Cid already took care of it," The feeling of guilt washed over Claire as Serah finished her story. If only she remained on the line for a little longer… if only she had listened to Serah for a little longer…

The thunder outside rumbled as Serah turned to her with a small smile but Claire lived with her long enough to know which were her genuine smiles and which weren't. She could see the real pain and suffering hidden behind the smile.

"You don't have to worry about Cid anymore because he broke up with me." Claire's eyes widened with disbelief, wondering how on earth she could be smiling with news like that. But her eyes remained on her long enough to see the tears trailing down her face. Serah turned around so Claire couldn't see her cry and the two remained silent throughout the rest of the ride.

Claire faced the window, watching the dark beach landscape pass her eyes. Suddenly a flash of white ripped through the sky, inches away from striking a nearby tree. The lightning brightened the entire sky for a quick second then disappearing as quickly as it came, only to return again in another strike.

In a way, that flash of lightning that nearly attacked that tree reminded her of herself. Like it, she couldn't protect, this night proved exactly that. The only thing she was capable of doing was causing pain and destruction to the people around her.

She clenched her bruised hands into a fist, gripping onto the wet material of her jeans.

How could she allow herself to act that way in front of Serah and to Cid? She was angry at herself and ashamed. Was she really that blinded by rage to have completely forgotten about her promise?

And with that, she felt the Claire of three years ago completely fade away from her being, only leaving an empty shell behind in its place.

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter eleven [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Yeah.. so for those who caught it, I used Tetsuya Nomura's name in the last chapter as the teacher (because I love his style of art) and Masashi Hamauzu in this XDD (I'm such a nerd)

I'm happy this chapter is over. I don't like Light/Cid (but I won't bash on it, I promise, for those who are fans C8) so this was REALLY hard to write XD

Originally, the GC soldiers were police officers but because I included PSICOM and GC in this story, I was wondering if they really needed police, so I changed it XD and the car was going to be a velocycle but then I remembered this isn't fantasy so a flying car/bike wouldn't exactly make sense lol;;

So this concludes the end of Lightning's past, next chapter will have Hope again, I promise C8  
On another (completely unrelated) note, I listened to heavy metal music (yes, I like heavy metal... especially asian heavy metal sung by Megurine Luka and Hatsune Miku llD /shot) when typing this XDD... it calms me...;;; (and it fit the mood XD and I just got new songs too orz;;;)

_sigh..._ now time to do my summer reading homework... (NUUUUU.)_**  
**_

_**Preview: **__"I'm sorry, Claire."_

_**Reviews make my day into a happy sunshine~**_


	12. Hope

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_Behold~ I bring you the twelfth chapter! Sorry for the delay! Originally, I was going to post this the day before but it wasn't fully edited and stuff...

The reason why it's so late is because I had trouble coming up with a way to start out with the chapter (even though I already wrote down what was going to happen xDD) and school started for me (OH NOES.) but that wasn't just the reason, I admit it, I was lazy DX;;;The whole "I'm-going-to-try-to-type-a-couple-of-chapters-before-posting-a-new-chapter" plan kind of... well, to be truthful, I have no idea what happened... I just... stopped;;;;

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter~ (it came out more fluffier than I originally planned but hopefully that won't bother you guys too much C8)

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_I have a secret I wish to share with you._

_**Chapter twelve: Hope**_

Hope stood in front of the door to Serah's and Lightning's apartment room. If it was under normal circumstances, Hope would be happy to see Lightning again. No matter if she had a scowl on or not when he saw her, he was always happy to see her.

But because he was standing there for almost five minutes, that enjoyable feeling soon became nervousness.

Staring at the door, he wondered, clutching onto the shopping bag tightly. There had to be someone home or else Serah would've told him earlier over the phone. Their door bell couldn't have been broken since he could hear it ring from the outside. It was already in the afternoon so Lightning couldn't still be asleep since she didn't seem like the type of person to sleep all day until late in the evening.

He reached over and pressed the bell again, keeping his finger on the button for a little longer before letting go and waited.

Soon, Hope could hear footsteps from the other side of the door coming closer and could feel his heart race and his palms becoming sweaty, the door slowly opening.

"Serah… I thought you said you weren't going to home until—"

Once the door was fully opened, Hope was… shocked.

Across from him wasn't the usual Lightning he saw most of the times. He expected to see her blue eyes full of energy and fierce, her pale skin bright and radiant (well, at least to him it was), her soft pink hair neatly brushed, spilling beautifully other her right shoulder. No, instead he saw the complete opposite, a side of Lightning he'd never seen before.

"Li-lightning?" he had to make sure it was her. Even her eyes were red… _like she had been crying…_

Lightning was just as shocked. "Hope? What are you doing here?" When she spoke, Hope could smell a strong scent lingering off her breath.

Alcohol.

"H-have you been drinking?" Hope asked frantically, reaching out for her and shaking her gently. Lightning didn't answer and leaned forward, falling into Hope's arms while he stood there holding her up feeling confused, worried, embarrassed, and almost happy.

He could feel her burning forehead pressed against his arm.

_-xxx-_

"_It is unfortunate that you've done such a thing, even when the school year is almost over, Miss. Farron." She sat in her seat unmoving, her head down as the large figure in front of her continued talking. "You are suspended until the end of the year."_

_She continued to sit there as all the outside rumors filled her head and the figure was replaced with the people in her class grouped together._

_One guy spoke up. "I haven't seen Cid around… I wonder why."_

"_I heard he transferred to another school."_

"_Huh? Why?" A girl asked._

_Soon, the whole class was involved in the conversation. "You didn't hear about the fight between him and Claire?"_

"_Someone told me she was the reason why he transferred."_

"_What the hell is her problem?"_

"_She should be the one to transfer, not Cid!"_

"_That bitch—!"_

_Everyone turned to her as she kept her head down. They walked over and flipped her chair as she fell to the floor but didn't get up. Helpless on the floor, everyone crowded around her and started attacking her in the similar fashion as that rainy night, the same as she had done to Cid. Unable to move, she found herself having to endure the pain as much as she wanted it to stop._

As the final punch went towards her face, she forced herself awake, only to be staring straight at the ceiling of the living room, lying on the couch. How she got there was beyond her, having no memories of walking into the living room or sleeping on the couch. All she remembered was falling asleep in the kitchen and the loud crash of glass against the hard tile floors.

She felt something cool on her forehead and removed it to see that it was a wet towel. Turning slightly, she saw a dark jacket draped over her. When she picked it up, she saw how large it was and how she had never seen it before.

"Lightning!"

She dropped the jacket as Hope wrapped his arms tightly around her, shocking her as she took a while to realize what was going on, still a bit dazed from her dream.

"I was so worried when you fainted and when I saw what a mess your kitchen was."

Lightning turned her head to take a look at her now clean kitchen. Last time she remembered there was trash and dirty dishes everywhere since she hadn't touch them the night before. There was also a spill of wine on the table and floor from her tiredness and a broken bottle on the floor. Was she really that out of it? The thought frightened her.

"You didn't need to do that… I don't deserve your kindness." Lightning felt his body tense up as he pulled away, his hands still holding onto her arms. Seeing an angry expression on Hope's usually peaceful face was unusual.

"Why do you always do this, Light?" he asked, his tone slightly rising.

She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You always keep your problems to yourself causing other people to worry! You never let anyone in on your life or how you're feeling!" he tightened his grip on her slightly. Shocked, Lightning did nothing but listen. "Everyone deserves a shot at happiness, Light, even you…"

"Hope… I—"

He didn't let her finish, quickly embracing her once again, only this time he held onto her even tighter than before. He hoped that she couldn't hear how loud his heart was beating now.

"I-I'll always be by your side… so," Hope desperately fought back the redness in his cheeks as he continued. "… so please come to me when something's bothering you."

Though she didn't say anything, he could feel her nod into his chest. What happened next caught him completely off-guard. He felt her arms snake around his waist carefully, slowly returning the hug. He could feel his heart racing and his face on the verge of exploding from over-heating. Never did he ever imagine that he would be in this situation in real-life, hugging Lightning and to have her hugging back. Sure, he had some dreams once in a while when they were together, holding hands like a happy couple, but they were just that, a dream.

Other than the happiness he felt while hugging her, everything felt… right. And if he could, he wouldn't want to let go of her.

"Light… the truth is…," Hope continued holding onto her. Though those words were said by accident, there was no turning back now. "I-I li—"

A low rumble from Hope's stomach echoed throughout the entire room as he flushed a deep red from embarrassment. He felt Lightning gently pull away from the warm embrace, much to Hope's dismay.

"There's some food in the refrigerator," she said nonchalantly as if the hug never took place. All Hope could do was nod and head on over to the kitchen, leaving Lightning alone in the living room once again.

Her eyes slowly started to trail to his figure, watching him pick out different containers to eat from. It scared her that he had grown so much since she last saw him. But even so, it made her proud. He was no longer that little crybaby she was so fond of in the past. He didn't need to cling onto anyone anymore; he was his own independent person.

"_Claire! Claire! Can I ask you a question?"_

"_Hm, sure. What is it?"_

_He plopped down besides her on the grass and turned to her. _

"_Will you stay with me forever?"_

_She laughed softly, taken aback by his sudden courage in asking something like that. Reaching over, she flicked his forehead with her finger. "Of course, silly."_

"_Oh," he rubbed his forehead lightly. "Then… I promise to be yours forever!" he smiled brightly and she couldn't help but be touched by his words as she hugged him tightly._

As sad as it made her, she couldn't be happier for him.

_-xxx-_

Hope stared at the food spinning in the microwave as his thoughts wondered. Though Hope couldn't explain how happy he was hugging Lightning, it also made him remember something he wished he didn't. He already admitted to himself his feelings for Lightning, but there was also Claire. What about her? What did he feel for her? Though he promised to be by Lightning's side, he also promised the same to Claire.

He felt like he was betraying her.

He had already forgotten how she looked like. Wearing the necklace she had given him was his way of making it up to her but now that he also had feelings for someone else, nothing in the world could make it up to her.

The microwave beeped as it came to a stop and the lights inside went off.

"I'm sorry, Claire…"

_-xxx-_

Later that night, Serah came home, only to be shocked to see an ill Lightning lying on the couch with Hope still lingering by her side.

"Hope? What are you still doing here?" Though she knew he was going to be dropping off the groceries at her house, she didn't expect him to stay anymore than a couple of minutes. Especially with how she knew Lightning felt with keeping Hope in their home for too long, even though she completely made up that scenario with the strawberries just so Hope could stop by and hopefully have a talk with Lightning.

Looking up from the TV, Hope greeted Serah. "Uh, hi, Serah," he smiled sheepishly. Serah waved to Hope then walked over to Lightning worried.

"What happened to you?"

Lightning looked away for a second before turning to her but then Hope interrupted the two by dragging Serah to the side and pulling her into the kitchen.

"H-hey, Serah, don't you want to check out the strawberries you wanted?" he said with a fake smile.

Serah tried to escape his grip but nothing worked. Once he let go, she demanded to know what was going on.

"Light's not feeling well, I think she has a cold, maybe even a fever… and when I saw her, she was kind of… drunk."

Serah's eyes widened. "_Drunk_?" Hope motioned her to be quiet, not wanting Lightning to listen onto their conversation. "But… why?"

Hope shrugged. "I have no idea, I think that's something you should talk to her about but… be careful with what you say; she doesn't seem to be in the best mood…" Serah nodded as Hope returned to the living room and she followed shortly after.

"I'll be going now." He grabbed his jacket nearby Lightning and waved to the two sisters. Serah waved back while Lightning nodded, giving him a small wave. Once the door was closed, Serah walked to Lightning, wrapping her arms loosely around her.

Lightning sighed. "So what did Hope tell you…?"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner you weren't feeling well?" She and Lightning used to be so close, spending so much time together and the amount of secrets they shared were limitless. Now they were like complete strangers and she didn't know her anymore, not even when she wasn't feeling well.

When had they grown so distant?

Patting Serah's back, she kept her hold on Lightning. "I'm sorry, Serah. I've been avoiding you and it was wrong of me…"

Serah pulled away, shaking her head frantically. "It was my fault!" she cried. "I was the one who brought up that conversation that night that got you so angry, it's my fau—"

Lightning reached over and tucked a hair behind Serah's ears with a small sad smile. "It wasn't your fault, Serah. I was the one who didn't listen to you…" she dropped her hand to her lap, her gaze dropping with it. "You were right… he does deserve to know." Serah jumped slightly, not used to being the one who was right since that was usually Lightning.

"That's why I'm going to tell Hope the truth. I promise you."

Her eyes lit up as she placed her hands over Lightning's. "R-really? When?"

"I don't know… whenever I have the chance to."

_-xxx-_

No matter how hard he tried, Hope couldn't get Lightning out of his head.

It wasn't like it was a bad thing really, but it was an unusual feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach whenever a thought of Lightning entered his head. He felt jittery and light-headed and most of the times, that wouldn't be taken as a good sign, but Hope couldn't have felt any better.

"—ope~ … Hope!"

With a poke on his shoulder, Hope snapped out of his thoughts and looked to see a curious set of emerald eyes.

"Is there a problem?" Hope froze and slowly turned from Vanille to see Sazh staring down at him confused.

"H-huh?"

Sazh pointed to Hope's opened book in front of him. The only problem was that he was on the same page the class was on five minutes ago.

"Or can you not tell me what happened to the village of Oerba hundreds of years ago?" Hope's attention dropped back to his book as he rapidly flipped to the page everyone else was one and stopped once he saw where the paragraph talking about Oerba's history started.

"I-it got completely destroyed by the nearby monsters… right? And the people had to leave…" Sazh nodded and walked away and continued teaching as Hope let out a sigh of relief.

_-xxx-_

The bell rang and the students quickly gathered their things to leave for their next class. Hope knew Sazh wasn't too happy with him for daydreaming in his class earlier so he hoped that he wouldn't be noticed when he slipped out the door. He stuffed his notebook and books inside his bag and tried to blend in with the small group heading out towards the door.

Unfortunately, Hope wasn't too successful.

"Hope, I want you to stay a bit longer… have something I want to talk to you about," he said, spotting his silver head from the corner of his eye. Hope couldn't tell if Sazh was angry or not since he had never seen the man truly angry, and when he seemed to be, it turned out to be a joke, and he didn't want to find out. He stepped out of the crowd while Vanille quickly told him that she will be waiting for him but Hope shook his head.

He slowly walked to Sazh's desk, nervous. "Uh… you wanted to talk to me?" he asked once the last person left the class.

Sazh put his book away into his drawer. "Is something wrong, Hope?"

Hope gave a look of confusion so Sazh further explained himself. "I mean, it's not like you to daze off during class…" Sazh watched Hope carefully to make note of any reaction. Hope blushed lightly, embarrassed that he allowed himself to be caught in a situation like this.

Sazh raised an eyebrow once he saw the pink tinting the boy's cheeks and how he had avoided eye contact. It didn't look like he was going to be talking anytime soon and truthfully, he was slightly worried about Hope. He was usually very bright and very much on top of things and was eager to answer whatever questions he threw at him. But today was different.

It was a stretch, and he could be million miles away from the actual reason, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Is it lady trouble?"

The last thing he expected was to see Hope jump and for the blush on his cheeks to darken. _Bingo._

"Is it Vanille?"

Hope shook his head violently. "N-no! It's not her." He mentally slapped himself for answering too quickly but it was too late, he couldn't take back what he had said.

Sazh leaned back in his chair. Other than Vanille, he hadn't seen Hope close or friendly with any other girls since he was a rather shy boy. He was already stumped. "Okay, then… who is it?" Hope glanced at him and looked to the floor.

Sazh sighed. "Listen, kid, I want you to know you can talk to me, a'right? If anything's bothering you, I want to be able to help you… and I can't help you if you don't tell me the source of your… daydreaming."

Continuing to look at the floor, Hope played with his fingers a little bit before answering. Sazh sat quietly in his chair, waiting patiently for an answer.

"L-lightning…" he whispered but he saw how Sazh didn't hear him, leaning in closer to hear. "I-it's, um, Lightning…"

Shocked, Sazh jumped back in his seat, his hands in the air. "Lightning?" Hope slowly nodded, the blush darkening even more. Sazh smiled. "Out of all the woman in the world, you choose the most difficult to deal with." He joked. "So is she the reason why you're acting so out of it?"

Hope pulled a chair over and sat in front of Sazh, dropping his schoolbag to the floor before talking. "I transferred into his school to find an old friend of mine. Her name's Claire. I haven't seen her in seven years but I knew she attended this school." Sazh nodded occasionally, letting Hope know that he was listening. "I-I kind of made a promise to her before… it's really childish now that I think about it," he said with a laugh before continuing.

"What did you promise her?"

Glancing up, Hope pouted slightly. "Don't laugh, okay?" He mumbled. Holding back a laugh, Sazh nodded. "I promised to be hers forever…"

Smiling, Sazh leaned an elbow on his desk. "That's some promise you made, kid."

Ignoring the prickly feeling of being called a kid once again, he spoke. "I know… but now… I have feelings for Light a-and… I don't know what to do." Though Claire wasn't with him to see him like another person, he couldn't bare the thought of doing it behind her back. And even though he was well aware of the fact that they were nothing more than friends, he felt that she still deserved to know. But because he had no way of telling her, he was stuck.

Sazh placed a hand on Hope's shoulder, squeezing a bit for Hope to look up at him. "You're a smart kid, Hope. Things might seem hopeless now but keep going forward and… just do what you feel is right."

"But that's the thing, I-I don't know what is right."

Leaning back in his chair again, Sazh crossed his arms. "Okay then, let me ask you this;" Hope's ears perked up, eager for an answer. "How do you feel— or did feel, around Claire?"

Hope scratched his head, wondering since it was so long ago. "I only remember I liked being around her. She always had her own unique way of making me smile and she wasn't perfect, but that's what I liked about her."

Sazh nodded, taking in his words. "Okay, then what about Lightning?"

Suddenly, Hope felt nervous and his hands started to sweat and he couldn't stay still, and Sazh, being the observant man he was, picked up on that right away. "I don't know. It's a little different… I can't really put it into words."

"Then try your best." Sazh said.

"There's like an entire different side to Lightning once you get to know her… On the outside, she looks like she could care less about the people around her, only looking out for herself, but deep down inside, she cares dearly for all her friends even though she doesn't show it. She makes me want to trust her. She really is selfless; giving everything up for Serah, and that's what I hate about her. B-but I guess it's kind of cute… Crap, I'm rambling now…" he blushed and hid his head in shame. He didn't even know where his words came from; they just flowed out of his mouth and into Sazh's ears.

Sazh smiled. "It's okay, continue."

"I-I want her to be happy, you know… like _truly_ happy. And I would do anything for her smile…" Hope's face could have melted out of the heat but he could care less now. He felt like he had to let it out now. Who knew how long he had kept it in? Now was his chance in expressing himself.

"Seems like you care more for Lightning," Sazh said with a glint in his eyes.

Hope felt that he should be happy. The small talk with Sazh seemed to clear up most of the questions and confusion he had been having for a while. Now that it was a little more obvious that Lightning had a higher place in his heart, it was no longer the issue of betraying Claire but something else.

Noticing something off, since he expected Hope to be… well, in a better mood than what he was currently in, he leaned in and studied his face. "What's bothering you now?" Hope was a good kid, one of his best students and friends. He and the rest of the group were like an extension to his small family. He treated him like he was one of his own.

"Light… well, she only sees me as a kid. She's never going to take me seriously… if I tell her. My words will never reach her." He said sadly.

Sazh patted his shoulder affectionately. "Then just show her that you're not a kid anymore." He said with a grin.

"How do I do that?"

"That's up to you to decide." Hope nodded, taking in the last of Sazh's advice before standing up and pushing the chair back to where it was. He grabbed his bag and turned to Sazh once he was about to leave.

"Thanks, Sazh." The two waved as Hope made his way to his next class.

Maybe this talk with Sazh wasn't so bad. Once he got his feelings out, he felt lighter. It gave him something he wanted, something he needed.

Hope.

_-xxx-_

Knowing that Vanille always spent her study halls with Fang in the courtyard, Hope decided that was the best place he would find her. He had no last minute homework to finish at the moment so it would be nice to just relax and enjoy the period with some of his friends.

Though they had little time to spend together, most of them already at the university level with the exception of Serah and Vanille, they tried to make the most of their little time together at lunch and tried to meet up outside of school whenever they were all free. Hope had grown to love and accept them all and felt that how they acted around each other was no different from how family would act.

While happily walking to the courtyard, he spotted a flash of pink heading to the opposite side of campus. Immediately realizing it to be Lightning, he completely turned around and ran to her since she was already so far away from him. Once he was in reasonable distance from her, he called out her name, not so loud that everyone on campus could hear him, but just enough for her and the people around them to hear.

Once she heard his cheerful voice, she stopped and turned, unable to describe the light sensation she felt from seeing him again. Though that sensation was short-lived once she remembered the promise she made with Serah.

"Hi, Light," he greeted once he was close enough to. She responded with her own hello and Hope had never felt so happy to hear her voice once again. It was like the talk with Sazh made him more open about how he felt about being around her.

"Looks like your fever is gone," he said when he saw how much life she had in her eyes. When he stopped by their home and saw what a mess she was, he truly was scared something serious had happened to her, but once he saw a broken bottle of wine on the kitchen floor, things started to make more sense. But the reason why she decided to do such a thing when she was sick was beyond him.

Nodding, she gave him a small smile, enough to make him blush. What she said next made him blush even more.

"Yes, thanks to you." She said sincerely.

Nervous and slightly embarrassed, Hope scratched the back of his head while lightly laughing. "I just wanted to help you. Oh yeah, now that I think about it," he started. "Is everything alright with you and Serah now?"

Earlier in the day, Hope had spotted Serah making her way to class and saw that she was back to her regular cheerful self unlike that day in art when she told him about Lightning's strange behavior. It made him happy that she was enjoying herself again and that everything seemed to be back to normal with her and Lightning though she didn't really say anything. Her smile said it all.

She nodded. "Yes, everything's alright now." Hope smiled, happy for the two of them. Lightning then thought back to right when Hope left and what she had promised Serah that night.

"_That's why I'm going to tell Hope the truth. I promise you."_

"Hope…" he lifted his head to look at her, his smile still lingering on his pale face. She tried to finish her sentence, to let out the truth but now that she was face to face with Hope, she found it harder to straight out tell him. Though she did feel guilty for keeping it a secret for so long, she didn't know why she couldn't find the words to tell him. Lightning was never a person who had to practice what she had to say to a person since she always knew what to say when the time came.

This was the first time she found herself at a lost for words.

She wanted him to know, to know that Claire was here and was by his side the whole time, but her past hindered her from doing so. There was a small fear deep inside her that he will learn of her sins if he knew who she truly was and that she will be rejected. She never thought or cared about what other people thought about her, especially in high school with her classmates, but for some reason, it bothered her now. He always had a special place in her heart ever since he was young, even when years pass that was something that never changed.

Hope stood in front of her, waiting. Lightning snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head, whispering a quiet "never mind".

"I should get going…" she turned to leave but stopped when she felt Hope pull at her wrist, preventing her from taking another step forward. Turning slowly, she saw that he was looking at his hand and not at her and that his face was as red as before.

His hand trailed down and they were soon holding onto Lightning's.

"I-I'm happy to have met you, Light."

Smiling, she reached over with her free hand and playfully flicked his forehead.

"_Here," he said cheerfully, shoving the flower in her hands. "You come here a lot, don'cha?" he giggled._

"Me too."

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter twelve [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Hopefully, the pacing is alright because for some reason I keep thinking it's rushed DDDX;;;  
(Not-so) fun fact: This was originally two different chapters but I felt that they were really too short... so I combined them together~ but the next chapter will/might be kind of short so hopefully I'll be able to get that out earlier C8

Thanks you guys for all your support and reviews! I really appreicate it C8

On an entire different note; I was thinking if I should draw covers for _some_ of the chapters (30+ chapter drawings may be a little much for me;;) since... because I like to draw, and I thought "Why not?" lol so if I ever get around to doing that... hopefully you guys will check them out 8DDD

Another thing, I don't know about you guys (only because I completely love Lightning) but I freaked out when I heard that she was going to be in the Dissidia sequel! (Time to get out the money to buy a PSP 8DDDDD)__

Now for some cliffhanger-ish goodness CCCC8 (it depends on how you see this lol;;)_**  
Preview: **__"We're only friends."_

_**Reviews make me smile~ C8**_


	13. Small wishes, big dreams

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n: **_HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS MUST WANT TO KILL ME NOW. DDDX

I'm so horrible for making you guys wait about a month and all I give you is a stupid short chapter DDDDDDDX UGHH... I hate school. I wish it was summer now. The teachers must have meetings to plan projects to give out all at the same time because I swear, I got projects in like all my classes all at the same time DDX BUT I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THEM. But that wasn't the only reason why I took so long to update... I curse my laziness everyday I didn't work on this chapter DX

But thanks so much for the reviews, guys! I will truly try to update more often! (and to stop being lazy DX) I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter~

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_If I wish on a star, what are the changes of it coming true?_

_**Chapter thirteen: Small wishes, big dreams**_

"_That's why I'm going to tell Hope the truth. I promise you."_

That was what Lightning intended on doing, and as soon as possible. But with how the week went by before her knowing it, and with the next almost ending, she wondered how she was ever going to have the chance to tell Hope. All those chances she had in the beginning she should've taken were now gone and now that she had finally come to the decision of confessing, she couldn't find the right time to tell him.

She barely saw him and she was busy with all that cramming and studying she had to do, and from what she had heard from Serah, so was Hope. And after a very brief conversation she had with him the other day, he had told her that his father was coming to visit him after getting a few days off from work. Lightning had seen that wide smile on his face, knowing how much he had missed his father, and couldn't be any happier for him.

She couldn't find it in herself to tell him right then that she was Claire.

Dropping her pencil to her desk, she rubbed her temple and groaned. "When have I've become so soft?"

The door to her room opened as Serah appeared with a plate of food in one hand. "Sis, it's time to eat~!" she blinked. "What are you doing?"

Lightning got up from her chair and walked to the kitchen with Serah trailing behind.

"Did you tell Hope yet?" Serah placed the remaining food on the table while Lightning went to get the plates and quickly returned to the dining table.

"No, I didn't," Lightning sat in her usual seat across from Serah.

"You better tell him soon, the sooner the better."

She nodded. "After Hope's dad leaves on Wednesday, I'll find a time to tell him."

_-xxx-_

"I don't get why I have to hang out with you."

The tall blond jumped, turning to him with a look of false disappointment.

"I feel so insulted, Hope! Who wouldn't want to hang out with their favorite hero?" he said jokingly with a big smile.

Hope was so very tempted to punch the man in the face to wipe that idiotic smile from his features.

Hope scoffed. "Who in their right minds would want to?"

Other than being offended, Snow laughed. Hope started to debate whether Snow was ignoring his comment or he was just really _that _much of an idiot.

"You know, you could've said no…"

"No, I couldn't!" Hope pointed an accusing finger to Snow. "You kept insisting we hang out and wouldn't stop unless I said yes!" Because of Snow, Hope had missed out on a rare chance to spend time with Lightning. When would be the next time Lightning would be the one to invite him to hang out with her? Never. And because of Snow, he would never be able to experience that kind of joy again.

Snow reached out and grabbed Hope's outstretched hand and pulled him along. "C'mon, if we don't hurry we won't have a place to sit!" With Snow's monstrous strength, Hope's extra weight was nothing to him as they ran to wherever Snow had in mind for their little outing with Hope stumbling behind, dreading every minute of it already.

After a quick run across the beach, Snow released his tight grip on Hope's hand. As he got back on his feet, he followed Snow into a small stand off to the side of the beach. Hope could see a lot of people already seated there and wondered what kind of place it was.

Hope's eyes widened as his eyes met the sign of the place.

"Lebreau's beach shack and b-bar?" Now Snow was seriously out of his mind. "I'm underage!"

"Calm down, Hope, Lebreau also has drinks for kids like you," he reassured.

The two walked inside and Snow greeted the female bartender like they were friends of some sort. Hope guessed she was Lebreau since there was no one else handling the customers.

Her hair was cut short and black, the front of her hair tied back. She had a low shirt that could've passed as a bathing suit and a puffy-sleeved shirt underneath that slid off her shoulders. Lebeau stood behind the counter shining a few glasses.

She later turned to see Hope behind Snow's bulky figure, then back to Snow.

"Friend of yours?" she asked. Snow nodded.

"Think you can make something non-alcoholic for him to drink?" She nodded with a thumbs-up before Snow took a seat right to the counter with Hope taking the empty seat besides him. "And I'll have the usual."

"I'm guessing you two are friends," Hope pointed out once their drinks arrived.

She placed her hands to her hips. "Not just any other friends, childhood friends." She beamed. "Been with this idiot for as long as I can remember."

"_Hero_!" Snow corrected while she just rolled her eyes.

"Me and Gadot gave you guys the tickets to that festival a while ago." She stated proudly.

Hope's initial view on her changed once he heard that she was the one who kindly gave them the tickets. "Really? Thank you so much!"

She smiled. "No problem, kid. Sorry, I'll love to stay and chat, but I've got other customers so I'll talk to you guys later!"

Lebeau left as Hope was left with Snow. He didn't say a word as he quietly sipped his fruity drink, still slightly angry at the older man.

Seeing that Hope still had that slight gloominess on his face, Snow decided to say something. "Is something wrong, Hope?"

"Took you that long to notice?"

Snow quickly drowned his first glass in a single gulp before putting the glass aside. "So… there _is_ something bothering you."

Hope placed an elbow on the edge of the counter, cradling his head in his hand, looking to the side. "Not really…" he mumbled.

Pondering, Snow rubbed his chin while staring at Hope, trying to figure out what had gotten him so down. The point of bringing Hope with him to the beach was to show him more of the Bodhum beachscape and to show him around town but it seemed that Hope wasn't going to cooperate very well.

Snow sighed, giving up, and leaned back in his chair. "Look, Hope, unless you tell me what's wrong, I won't have a clue on what's bothering you." He said while scratching the back of his head. "You can trust me, it's better than keeping it inside, right? Maybe I can help you out."

Hope looked up to Snow. Those last words of his were doubtful, but he could tell that he was sincere. "If you laugh, I'll ram your head into the table." He threatened.

"I won't!"

Hope looked to the floor and then to his shoes, avoiding all eye contact with Snow and to hide the evident blush he felt coming on before speaking.

"I… uh—I think I'm i-in love with Li-lightning…"

Out of all the possible things Snow expected Hope to say at that moment, right down to stating that he was gay, he never expected him to say such as thing as to admitting his feelings for Lightning.

"Wow… you, uh, really know how to choose them…" Sure, he was aware of a few number of crushes people had on Lightning, but they were just that, a crush, and went away as quick as they came. And plus, many of them were too afraid to say anything to her and only admired her from a far distance.

"I kind of thought you had a thing for Vanille, truthfully."

Hope shook his head. "We're only friends." He said calmly. "You're the second to say that after Sazh…"

"Well… I just expected you to be interested in someone your age" Snow paused for a second. "Wait, is that the reason why you're so upset?"

Hope wanted to tell Snow that it was his fault that he missed out on a chance to be with Lightning but he felt that it would be childish to continue to blame the man, and that the last thing he wanted to be. He needed to be a man and show Lightning and the others that he was not a kid.

"Not really… it's something else."

"Then say it, I'm all ears." He grinned that goofy smile of his. Even though most of the times that smile annoyed the crap out of Hope, it was what he needed the most now.

Hope stirred his drink while continuing to avoid eye contact from Snow. "I-I want to tell her but I'm scared of how she'll react and what would happen to our friendship if I did." His friendship with her was one of the most fragile ones he ever had with someone. But even so, he also felt that it was one of the strongest. "I don't to go back to how we were before… In her eyes, I'm just a kid."

Even though he was satisfied with how their relationship was with each other now, he still wanted to deepen it so that could be something more than just friends. But there was also the chance that she wouldn't feel the same and their friendship would become strained.

"Well… all I can really say to you is that I wish you the best of luck since this _is_ Lightning we're talking about." Snow could see the slightest of hope he had in his eyes start to fade.

He ran a hand through his hair before continuing. "Listen Hope, I've known Light for at least four years and she still hates my guts for many reasons I don't know." He let out a short light-hearted laugh, thinking back to all the times where he had gotten bruises from Lightning. "It's been what, almost a year? And she's already taken a liking to you." Though he wasn't around Lightning all the time, he could tell that she treated Hope differently from everyone else. It was a little strange in Snow's opinion but still kind of cute and endearing. And he knew it was something he could tease her about later.

"What I'm saying is… if anyone has a chance at being with Light, it's you."

Hope stared wide-eyed at Snow as he finished. "Wow… that was… unexpected. I'm shocked, Snow."

"Hey, I can be deep and smart when I want to." He said with a small laugh as he reached over and ruffled Hope's hair. Soon, Hope couldn't help but smile as he spent the rest of the night having fun talking with Snow.

As the sky got darker and the beach got quieter, the two got ready to leave and return home. But before they left the beach, Hope took one last look at the starry sky and made a promise to himself.

_I will tell Light my feelings… for sure._

_-xxx-_

As Hope entered the lobby of the apartment, he quietly made his way to the elevators but not before stopping after he saw Lightning nearby gathering her mail. He smiled widely but loosened his face once he thought about how much of an idiot he probably looked like at the moment, slowly approaching her.

Lightning soon noticed his presence besides her as she turned to look up at him, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Hey, Hope," she said as he waved to her.

"Hey, Light. Why are you getting the mail so late?"

She turned to the letters in her hands before turning her attention back to him. "Oh, Serah and I kind of forgot to get it and she said something about waiting for a certain letter to arrive."

"Oh…" Hope simply said before silence came between the two as Hope scratched his hair lightly, a blush lightly tainting his cheeks.

Lightning stared at Hope's blushing face in amusement and couldn't help but think how much of a child he looked like, not that it was a bad thing or anything.

The elevator rang as the doors slid open as the two walked inside and waited without saying a word to each other as the elevator rode up the building to the sixth floor.

After a moment of silence, Lightning faced him.

"Hey Hope, do you want to stop by for lunch tomorrow?" she asked.

Hope almost choked on his own breath as he was caught completely off-guard with her invitation, his face reddening.

"To thank you for helping me out back then." She clarified. Even though Hope was a little bit disappointed in her reason, he was still nonetheless extremely happy.

Hope nodded frantically as the doors opened to their floor. "I-I'll be there!"

Lightning smiled as she stepped out of the elevator. "Okay, see you tomorrow then?"

Hope waved, "Yeah, see you, Light!", and headed to his door.

Once he was inside his room, he couldn't help but smile so big that his cheeks started to hurt. He probably looked like the most ridiculous person in the entire town of Bodhum.

But none of that was important. Tomorrow was his chance.

And this time, instead of running away from his uncertainties, he would run straight to it and hope to see the light at the end.

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter thirteen [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Okay... you guys must be wondering what was the point of this chapter... but it's to transition into the next chapter which I guess many of you are looking forward to XD (more of a reason why I shouldn't wait another month to update lol)

On another note, the whole "No, I couldn't, you kept insisting I..." Hope says was supposed to taken comically... so yeh...  
On anoooother note, one of my many projects was to create a short story with a group and the main character's name was Claire. Yeh, I'm a total dork. I was tempted to make the fiancé name in the story Hope (since I was typing it) b-but I was outnumbered D'8

_**Preview: **__"Why didn't I notice it before?"_

_**Please Review~!**_


	14. Fool

_**Because You Are Here…**_

_… I can go forward._

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_**A/n:**_ I. AM. SO. SORRRRRRY. /SOOOOB

I've made you guys wait sooo long! I AM SO UNBELIEVEABLY SORRY. I can't believe I haven't updated this entire winter! Since I've made you guys wait this long, I think you should at least know why...  
I had my iPod stolen during fencing practice one day and I've been feeling so upset for a while, I got into D. gray-man, I also had fencing everyday afterschool (on the weekends sometimes too...) and it just ended, I also had mid-terms that lasted two weeks (Curse you, snoww!), then I got back into FFXIII and Hope/Lightning after hearing some verry exciting news, and now I have state issued tests that I'm almost done with. That's basically my entire winter in a nutshell.

Although this doesn't have anything to do with this story, I dedicate this chapter to the victims in the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

_**x:x:x:x:x**_

_I dream of the day when you will accept me with open arms._

_**Chapter fourteen: Fool**_

Lightning groaned as she heard her phone vibrate on her nightstand. She turned in her blankets and reached up to snatch the phone off the cool surface. Her frown deepened as she squinted to see the familiar name flash across the LCD screen. She flipped it open and answered in an annoyed tone.

"What do you want?"

"_Serah?" _A loud, husky voice questioned through the phone.

"Is this a joke? I'm hanging up, Snow." Lightning huffed as she pulled the phone away from her ear ready to end the call when Snow's voice rang out again.

He laughed. _"Jesus, you two sound almost exactly the same over the phone… just minus the whole negative tone you've got going on." _Snow kept laughing as Lightning was still not amused. When it became quiet, Lightning took it as a chance to try to hang up again but he soon started to talk again. _"By the way, why do you have Serah's phone? Are you _that _paranoid and bored to go looking through her phone?" _He joked.

"This is my phone, you idiot." Lightning could just imagine the stupid look Snow must have had on his face.

"_W-what? How can that be… I mean—" _Lightning raised a brow when he suddenly paused mid-sentence.

"_Fang."_ Snow grumbled murderously. _"I knew something was up when I gave her my phone a couple days ago!"_

"Why did you even give her your phone in the first place if you don't trust her with it in the first place?"

"_No, no, no. You see, she told me that she got a new phone and she wanted to give me her new number but she said that she'll do it herself because, according to her, I'm too dumb to even use my own phone!"_

"You were dumb enough to give your phone to Fang when you know that she loves to pull these kinds of pranks on you."

"_Whatever… anyways, I've gotta go. Who knows what other contacts she's messed with. I'll talk to you later, sis!"_

"I'm not your—!" And before she got to finish her sentence, Snow hung up.

Sighing, Lightning got out of her bed already in a bad mood. It never made her happy to hear Snow's voice, nevertheless waking up to it. She couldn't understand how Serah could deal with someone as noisy as Snow and still be able to love him…

She shook her head, sighing. She told herself that she wouldn't think about that anymore. Serah was old enough and mature enough to make her own decisions.

It wasn't as if Lightning didn't trust her; she just had trouble reminding herself that Serah was no longer that little girl in the past who needed her older sister to constantly hold her hand. It was time that she allowed Serah to become more independent.

Although she didn't trust Snow the way she trusted Serah, she could complain and yell as much as she wanted to her and nothing would change Serah's mind.

She was just as stubborn as she was.

_-xxx-_

Serah popped her head into the kitchen once she smelt something cooking from her room. Curiosity got the best of her as she wondered if Lightning was really cooking for once. Casually walking in humming, Serah skipped to Lightning's side to try to catch a glimpse of what was cooking on the stove. Lightning, already aware of Serah's presence long before she walked in, closed the lid on the pot as soon as Serah craned her head over it to look at the contains inside. As a response, she let out a small pout.

"Hey, I wanna see what's for lunch," she smiled.

"Why does it matter? You know it's not for you," Lightning said, aware that Serah was going to be hanging out with Snow for the afternoon.

Serah walked away from Lightning, grabbing a nearby cup on the counter, and headed towards the refrigerator. She pulled out a carton of orange juice and proceeded to pour herself a glass of it. She brought the cup to her lips and took a small sip while putting the orange juice back inside to its rightful place.

"Hm, are you really planning on eating that much food?" Serah questioned while leaning against the counter.

Lightning pulled the lid off one of the pots and started to fill one of the empty plates beside her with freshly cooked vegetables. Though Lightning wasn't such a bad cook herself, it was because Serah enjoyed cooking a lot more than Lightning that made her the chief of the house.

"Your idiot boyfriend called me this morning thinking I was you. I think he wants you to call him back," Lightning simply stated. She didn't get it; why he did try to call Serah when he'll see her in the afternoon?

"Hey, don't try to change the subject," Serah teased, grinning wildly. She suddenly placed a hand over her mouth, gasping. "Don't tell me, you finally found yourself a boyfriend and you invited him to over for lunch?" she asked excitedly, causing Lightning to throw a kitchen rag at Serah's face.

The rag fell into Serah's palms as she saw that Lightning's eyes were void of any embarrassment. "Don't be ridiculous, Serah. It's just Hope."

Apparently, stating that it was just Hope who was coming over didn't calm Serah down as Lightning hoped and thought it would. Instead, Serah looked even happier than before.

"What do you mean it's _just _Hope?" Serah asked, slightly imitating Lightning's voice. "Aw, but that's so cute though," she gushed, clasping her hands together with the kitchen rag still in her possession.

Lightning shook her head. Sometimes she regretted telling Serah stuff like this. "There is nothing cute about it. We're just going to have lunch together and that's it."

Serah froze. "Huh? That's it? It's not a date or anything?" she asked, a bit disappointed. Her eyes followed Lightning's figure to the dining table with two bowls of food in hand.

"Yes, Serah, it's not a date." She stated clearly. "Besides, I'm older than him. That much should be obvious."

"Well… yeah, but I don't see why that has to do with this."

Lightning turned around from the table, facing the younger Farron. "Serah… I'm twenty-one. He's sixteen. He's just a kid and I'm too old for him."

Serah huffed, walking to the sink to rinse her now empty cup. "Aw, that's too bad you're not interested. You two would've made such a cute couple." Lightning returned to the stove but kept her back to Serah.

"Don't be ridiculous, Serah." She repeated.

_-xxx-_

Hope just wanted to pull out his hair out of frustration.

On his bedside and floor was an array of clothing ranging from plain t-shirts to jeans scattered around. Hope stood in front of his bathroom mirror, hair still messy and all over the place from just waking up. His blue striped button-down shirt was wrinkled and buttoned in a messy manner. He had decided to just go with the dark jeans he already had on but he still couldn't decide on a matching shirt to wear. This was his seventh time going to the mirror to examine his outer appearance.

Now, it wasn't like Hope to worry about how he looked, especially since his hair was always so messy he just learned to deal with it. Plus the fact that all he wore on normal days was his school uniform.

But today wasn't a normal day.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that Lightning would probably care less about what he wore today but he wanted to look nice for her. Whenever the thought of Lightning entered his mind, he always felt self-conscious on how he looked.

Annoyed with the buttons, he half unbuttoned his shirt and smoothed it out. He had a black t-shirt underneath, a previous outfit he had tried out but was too lazy to take off, and with the striped shirt partially unbutton, it was now visible.

Finally, Hope was somewhat content with his look and grabbed a nearby brush on the sink counter and quickly brushed his hair, attempting to smooth away a few fly-aways and strands that stood up messily on top of his head.

Once he was done, Hope quickly picked up the clothes on the floor and threw them back on the bed, reminding himself to put them all back in his closet when he returned home. He grabbed his keys and left the room.

Hope walked slowly to Lightning's door, feeling nervous about seeing her. He didn't realize how sweaty his palms were or how dry his throat was until he left his apartment room. The whole morning, he was excited about spending time with Lightning and having lunch with her, but that was only because he completely forgot about his plan to tell her how he felt about her. He suddenly felt his cheeks burn as he stood in front of her door like an idiot, now afraid to ring the bell.

Slowly, he brought his hand up and pressed the doorbell and waited. He tried to take deep breaths in order to calm his nerves. He felt his heart relax at a slower pace but felt it start racing again once he saw the door knob turning in front of him.

"Hope?" He shot his head just once he heard her voice, his face still red, and when he saw her, he felt his face burn even more. "You came earlier than I expected."

Hope froze. Being with Lightning always made Hope a little more paranoid than usual so when he heard that he started to panic slightly. He didn't want to seem too eager about seeing her today. He wanted to be calm and confident in front of her. But he should've realized by now that it never works.

"Well, I guess it's to be expected since I didn't really specify what time I would be ready." She smiled slightly and moved out of the way, signaling him to come in. Once he was in, she made her way back into the kitchen while he closed the door behind him and walked into the living room, making sure to remove his shoes before taking another step forward.

Hope took a look around his surroundings. Everything was neat and organized. Though he had been inside her apartment room before, he had never really realized how clean everything was. Nothing was found on the polished hardwood floor, books and CDs were neatly placed in a shelf that stood against the wall to his left, a simple painting hung on the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen, and nothing but the remotes to the TV and DVD player were found on the glass coffee table.

It seemed like Lightning really was sort of a neat freak like Serah had once mentioned.

_Speaking of Serah…_

"Where's Serah?" Hope asked.

He swore he heard a soft "hmph" escape from Lightning's lips. "She's out for the day with Snow," she almost said in a growl. Hope walked into the kitchen to help Lightning but she shook her head and directed him to the dining table and he went to sit in one of the chairs.

"Is there something wrong with Snow?" Though he could admit, spending a little too much time with Snow did really wear a person out and almost drive them crazy (he couldn't understand how Serah did it), but there was nothing awfully bad about the guy other than his nonstop talking. He was almost like a female Vanille for goodness sakes…

Lightning paused for a second before answering. "It's not like I despise him." Though she would never verbally admit it, the idiot _did _grow on her over the years that she'd known him. "I just don't really trust him." With what had happened before in the past, how could she learn to trust other males with Serah? "I don't think that he's the right person to keep Serah safe like he keeps promising."

Lightning was shocked to hear a slight chuckle escape from behind her and raised a brow. "I think you worry a little too much, Light. Though I may not know him as well as you do, but from what I do know of him, Snow is a person who is true to his words. He tries his best to make everyone happy." Hope played with the floral table cloth before continuing. "And he truly loves Serah, don't you think so?"

"I guess you're right," she said quietly, walking to where Hope was sitting and sat in the chair across from him.

Hope tried to look into her eyes but couldn't read her emotions at all.

It wasn't fair. She could read him like an open book while he struggled to do the same to her. She was unreadable, and he hated that about her.

Then, right at that second, he saw something.

A slight change in her eyes.

"Light…" he asked. "Are you… lonely?"

She almost snorted in response. "Don't be ridiculous—"

"It's okay, Light." She looked up to face Hope's small shy smile. Looking back down to her hands, she wondered when he had gotten up and taken a hold of her hands.

"I understand how you feel. I-I felt the same when my mom passed away. All I had left was my dad and we weren't really even that close. But—"

"_He's the only dad you got so—so show him that you care about him and love him. Do it now… before it's too late."_

"…but I soon realized that things weren't okay the way they were and someone convinced me to do something about it. And in the end, everything turned out okay," he smiled.

Lightning looked away for a moment. She knew what he was talking about, and who made him realize that.

She suddenly remembered why she invited him over in the first place.

Slowly pulling her hands out from his grasp, he dropped his hands to his side in response.

"_B-but I don't understand, he deserves to know the truth…"_

"Hope… I…," Lightning said softly but Hope didn't let her finish. He had to say it before he lost the nerve to tell her.

"I-it pains me to see that lonely look in your eyes. Lightning, I promise you that I will stay by your side…," Hope took in a deep breath before continuing. "B-because… I… I-I lo—"

The door bell rang loudly; interrupting the two from speaking any further… both of them so close into telling an important secret.

Hope briefly exchanged glances with Lightning before turning around and walking towards the door. In that moment they locked eyes Hope could see that she was just as curious as he, wondering who could possibly be at the door at such an important time.

_Who ever was at the door better have had a good reason for interrupting_, Hope thought.

He opened door and in front of him was a tall man with raven black hair with a stoic expression on his face, almost the same as the one Lightning usually wore. Not only did they have that in common, but he also looked to be around her age, maybe even a little older.

Hope stared at the man and realized that he had never seen him before. He wondered what business he could possibly have here.

He was just about to ask before the man beat him to it.

"Sorry for the intrusion…," he spoke politely in a low, clear voice. "I'm looking for someone." Hope raised a brow. Did Lightning invite another person over too? He didn't want to believe such a thing. "… Is Clai—"

Before the man could go on, Hope saw a flash of pink in the corner of his eyes and suddenly Lightning stood in between the two males. Hope was curious to see Lightning's face but the back of her head blocked his view.

"What do you think you're doing here, Cid?" she almost growled out. Hope was taken aback by how intimidating she sounded. Never had he ever heard her use that tone of voice before. Not even with Snow when he really got on her nerves. He felt fear take over even though he was well aware that she wasn't talking to him. Hope felt tense around the two.

His stoic face quickly changed into a small smile. "It's been a while."

From the side, Hope glanced over at Lightning to see a sick expression on her face then over to the man she called Cid. They spoke as if he wasn't even there anymore. The two stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Hope, you can start eating… I'll be right back."

He flinched a bit as he watched her leave with Cid. Once the door closed behind them, Hope couldn't help but feel abandoned and, of course, jealous at the man.

Just who was he? A relative? A friend?

An ex-boyfriend?

He shook his head. Though it was possible since she was just so beautiful, he didn't want to think about the possibilities of it being true.

But if he really was her ex-boyfriend, then he had no chance of being with her.

That man had and was everything Hope wanted to be. He was tall and easily surpassed Lightning in height. He was calm and collected (something Hope could never accomplish when he was around his crush), a charming smile, and not to mention extremely neat hair…

He also had the face of a man; a man worthy of being by Lightning's side.

Hope lifted his head to look at his reflection at a nearby mirror hanging on the living room wall.

He looked no different from a kid.

Hope took out the plates from the cabinet and started to set the table for when Lightning would return. As he stared at the chair Lightning was just sitting in, Hope remembered how close he was to telling her his feelings.

_But then _he_ showed up,_ Hope couldn't help but thought bitterly. The moment was perfect too. Who knew when he'll have the courage and chance to tell her again?

When the last of the dishes were set, Hope glanced to the side to see a pile of books and papers taking up half of the dining table. It looked unsightly and he decided to move it to a better location for now.

Hope carefully brought the papers over to the coffee table in the living room. He walked back to the dinner table ready to move more books into the next room when something caught his eye.

Taking a closer look, Hope saw that it was a photo wedged in between pages of a book. Curious, he carefully pulled the picture out to examine it.

His eyes widened as they scanned the photo and the people in it.

It seemed to be a family photo. There was a small girl who had a cheerful, toothy smile and was wrapped around the protective arms of someone who appeared to be her mother crouching down beside her with a loving smile.

Hope couldn't help but laugh when he saw that it was a young Serah clinging onto her mother. She even had her hair styled the same it was today. Looking to the side of Serah, Hope saw a taller girl with a small smile holding hands with the young Serah and a man in a Guardian Corps uniform.

For some reason, Hope couldn't look away from that girl holding hands with the man.

"_Um, what about your dad?"_

"_I don't know… he died when I was six in a plane crash before I got to know him any better." _

Suddenly, all the memories of Claire came flooding back; her voice, her face, her smile. Everything

"_He was always busy with work since he was in the Guardian Corps."_

Though that taller girl did remind Hope of Claire, she wasn't all that Hope was reminded of.

… _Why didn't I notice it before…?_

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter fourteen [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n:**_ Another cliffhanger... I don't know when the next chapter will be out but I don't think it'll take another 5+ months for it to come out... at least I hope it doesn't... on the bright side, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is coming out in the winter lol 8DDD

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And I'm so sorry for the wait! And if you do see any spelling or grammar typos please tell me. I went over some of the past chapters and saw a lot of typos so I'll be going back and fixing/editing those chapters in the future. I also hope my writing hasn't gotten rusty since I haven't typed a fanfic in a while... (/shame)_**  
**_

_**Preview: **__"… Was it because of me?"_

_**Please review~**_

___[Last Edited: 3/17/11]_**  
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